“Everyone else seems afraid to say it, but that Quvenzhané Wallis is kind of a c–t, right?” This was actually tweeted last night by the satirical online publication, The Onion, about the 9-year old actress. The writer tweeting for The Onion wrote this about a nine-year-old. A third grader. A child. A female. Someone’s daughter. Of all the things they could have written, why would anyone describe a child this way?
They didn’t say she was too sassy, or too grown, or too annoying or too irritating. Nope. They went straight for the c-word.
Some media outlets are making this terribly insensitive, unfunny and crass tweet a case about slander against black women in the media. However, calling any woman such an ugly word is offensive to all women; regardless of race. It’s quite possibly the lowest form of insult you can hurl at a woman. Sure, The Onion staff is known to poke fun at everyone from politicians to the Kardashians, but this latest tweet took it way too far.
Unfortunately, the pastime of making fun of young women in Hollywood is nothing new for the media. However, during the days of Kids Incorporated and The Mickey Mouse Club, there was an unwritten ‘hands-off’ rule that the media respected when digging up dirt on celebrities.
Now, everything and everyone is fair game. It seems that anyone who dares to begin a singing or acting career as a teen is signing up to receive negative feedback from the press.
From Britney Spears to Amanda Bynes, Lindsay Lohan and Anne Hathaway; many young singers or actors have had their share of negativity from bloggers, social media and traditional gossip magazines.
Former child star Martha Plimpton (The Goonies), shared her disgust at the media scrutiny that young actors and actresses receive today. “So a person who is young, which is already hard, it’s a difficult part of life, to then have these insane photographers and horrible people writing about you constantly”…”It doesn’t seem fair what we do to people just because they want to work in show business. It doesn’t seem you should relinquish your right to be treated with respect.”
Read more: PopularCritic
