Rebel Wilson is catching a social media beat-down because of a claim she made on “The Ellen Show.”
“I’m proud to be the first-ever plus-sized girl to be the star of a romantic comedy,” she said.
But others quickly brought up that Queen Latifah starred in romantic comedies before Wilson and cited “Just Right” with Common, as well as “Last Holiday.”
“I love @RebelWilson as much as the next girl, but she isn’t the first plus sized woman to play the lead in a romantic comedy.” one person tweeted. “Queen Latifah and Mo’Nique have both played rom-com leads.
Some probably thought Wilson would simply acknowledge the mistake, give credit to Latifah and keep it moving but that’s not what happened at all. Instead, she doubled down on her claim and questioned whether those Latifah films were really romantic comedies.
“Hey girl,” Wilson tweeted. “Yeah, I of course know of these movies, but it was questionable as to whether: 1. Technically those actresses were plus size when filming those movies or 2. Technically those films are categorized/billed as a studio rom-com with a sole lead. So there’s a slight grey area.”
Folks were definitely taken aback by the actress’ response and some believed it had racial undertones.
“I’d also like to know what you mean by ‘grey area’ on whether these movies with Black female leads can be truly categorized as rom-coms.” someone wrote. “Because I don’t think you understand how that sounds. What about you and your rom-com would be different? I reckon nothing but I digress.”
“What troubles me is that this statement erases the contributions of extremely prominent women who’ve made a big mark for plus sized women, like Queen Latifah” said a woman named Nabela on video. “Without Queen I don’t know where I would be in my life. To erase her contribution is really wrong.”
Eventually, Wilson sent another message but some called it generic.
“I fully take all the comments on board, though. So thank you,” she wrote.
