https://twitter.com/nancygoldstein/status/987660570940719104
A writer/commentator drew the ire of Black women Twitter users Saturday, April 21 when she credited the likes of Rose McGowan, Ashley Judd and Reese Witherspoon for prompting R. Kelly’s team to leave him.
The “I’m a Flirt” singer has been accused of running a sex cult out of his home and grooming underage girls to have sex with him. His accusations emerged ahead of the #MeToo movement’s resurgence in wake of October’s Harvey Weinstein scandal. Yet Nancy Goldstein rattled off a list of mostly white stars who spoke out about Weinstein in her tweet.
Despite journalist Irin Carmon telling Goldstein she “had no role in” the “meaningful journalism and advocacy about R. Kelly,” Goldstein continued to give her some form of credit and issued the same response to a few others.
https://twitter.com/nancygoldstein/status/988836875094904832
Soon, Black women began blasting Goldstein for failing to issue a correction.
“No. No Nancy, that is not why,” tweeted Me Too movement founder, Tarana Burke. “Please show us all where anyone on this list [besides DeRogatis who wrote the initial expose on Kelly] has uttered a word about R. Kelly in the last 6 mos. Any articles, exposes, etc… now come from tireless work of BLACK women who refused to let him slide in this moment. You’re wrong.”
“Just delete the tweet,” someone else said. “It was wrong and the fact that you’re so dedicated to not listening to the women in your mentions telling you it was wrong is wild. It WAS a simple fix.”
“So you just forgot to credit all the Black women that have been reporting on him and advocating for his victims for years while putting up with abuse and harassment for doing that work?” someone else tweeted. “Where’s @TaranaBurke? Where’s @JamilahLemieux? @Karnythia? @thewayoftheid?”
“I have so many questions. SO MANY,” tweeted writer and Black feminist Mikki Kendall, who later shared a list of the Black women who exposed Kelly. “Did we all sidestep out of reality & take our years of work with us. She doesn’t even have @JamilahLemieux in this list.”
https://twitter.com/IBJIYONGI/status/988845683460337664
There is this tweet and thread from @IjeomaOluo from December 2015. As Black Women, we have had our OWN campaign, online and offline, without the fanfare or celebrity endorsements. We will not be erased. https://t.co/UyyqHtMTW4 #Rkelly #BlackTwitter #MeToo
— Dr. Goddess, 🗣 in #TulsaBurning @History Channel (@drgoddess) April 24, 2018
Goldstein seemed to finally give more acknowledgment of her slip up and told users to “Please take a moment to read the clarification I’ve just tweeted out to a few folks.”
Thank you for your insight and correction, Veronica. And my apologies and thanks to @thewayoftheid and @Karnythia. I wasn’t aware of your contribution and appreciate both this correction to the record and this opportunity for people to read and acknowledge your important work.
— Nancy Goldstein (@nancygoldstein) April 24, 2018
https://twitter.com/nancygoldstein/status/988849401639694337
