“Everyone else seems afraid to say it, but that Quvenzhané Wallis is kind of a cunt, 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 literally 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 say this to describe a child (or any female, for that matter)?
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 a c-nt 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,” it seemed like there was an unwritten ‘hands-off’ rule the media respected when digging up dirt on celebrities. Now, everything and everyone is fair game. It seems like anyone who dares to began their 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), commented on 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.”
Even with this current ‘no holds barred’ climate for the media, calling a 9-year old girl a c-nt is unacceptable. The Onion tweeter had the good sense to take down the despicable tweet…but only after receiving backlash from Twitter followers. In response to the comment made about Willis, Comedian Sara Benincasa (presumably someone who gets a good joke) said on her Tumblr, “This one just doesn’t sit right with me, gang. It just fucking doesn’t. She’s a real human being and she’s 9 years old and that’s a harsh word to use about a kid, even in jest, even parodying our catty-as-hell celebrity worship/hate culture.”
As of now, no one from Quvenzhané Wallis’s family or her management team has responded to the remark. Even though no one from The Onion has yet to issue an apology for the comment, the smartest thing for the Wallis family and team to do is to keep doing what they’ve been doing. In addition to being the youngest person ever nominated for an Oscar, Little Miss Wallis was just cast as Annie in the upcoming remake of the movie to debut in 2014.
