Democratic Georgia state representative Dar’shun Kendrick found herself in the midst of controversy on social media after she sent out a tweet saying she wanted to “slap” Stacey Dash for the comments she made about Patricia Arquette’s Oscar speech.
It was yet another Twitter fiasco that suggests politicians simply shouldn’t use social media for their own personal thoughts or conversations. Most of these viral feuds and nasty digital exchanges don’t accomplish much more than take the public’s attention away from actual politics and allow one side of the political landscape to make unfair sweeping generalizations about the other.
This was no exception.
The feud all started when the openly conservative Black actress and Fox contributor said she was “appalled” by Arquette’s Oscar speech that pushed for equal rights for women.
When Dash criticized the speech on air, Kendrick took to social media to express her feelings.
“I’m going to slap Stacey Dash if I see her…that wasn’t nice,” she wrote on Facebook. “Forgive me God. I’m going to pray she stops talking..ok. That’s better.”
It wasn’t long before Dash spotted the post and shared it on her own Twitter account.
“WOW #GA State Rep @DarshunKendrick wants to ‘slap me’ until I ‘stop talking’ Such a role model for young black women,” Dash tweeted along with a screenshot of the post.
Kendrick responded by claiming she recanted the statement and also took a serious jab at Dash’s reading skills.
“@REALStaceyDash You’ll notice that I recanted that statement,” she tweeted. “Reading is fundamental.”
Kendrick never issued a separate apology or recanted the statement online but merely suggested that the part of the post that reads “…that wasn’t nice. Forgive me God,” was considered her recanting the proposed slap.
She eventually deleted the original Facebook post.
Social media was immediately set ablaze after images of the feud were shared online, with many of Dash’s supporters claiming that the Georgia rep was condoning violence and unfairly attacked the actress because she was a Black conservative.
Kendrick’s supporters suggested that the post was taken too seriously while also insisting that it was a reasonable response to Dash’s comments about Arquette’s speech.
While Arquette’s speech was a public push for equality for women, Dash insisted on Monday’s Fox & Friends that the Oscar winner was out of line.
“First of all, Patricia Arquette needs to do her history,” Dash said. “In 1963, [President] Kennedy passed an equal pay wall. It’s still in effect. I didn’t get the memo that I didn’t have any rights.”
Arquette’s speech never suggested that women had no rights.
“To every woman who gave birth, to every citizen who has paid taxes…this is our time to have wage equality and equal rights for women,” she said as she accepted the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
As for the social media war between the two ladies, Kendrick took a few more jabs are Dash’s literacy before she stopped posting about the controversy.
Supporters for both Kendrick and Dash have continued hurling tweets back and forth at one another in a debate that quickly shifted away from the two women and instead turned into a stereotype-filled quarrel that pitted liberals against conservatives.
One tweet mocked the entire Black Lives Matter movement by suggesting Kendrick would be chanting “hands up don’t shoot after she slaps” Dash. Another tweet unfairly slammed all conservative women as “ignorant” people who want the “government to regulate [their] ovaries.”
In a social media battle that all started over comments pushing for wage equality, the conversation, not surprisingly, never added any substance to the bigger conversation at hand.
