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By: Courtney Herring
In an unusual display of poor taste, The Onion’s people decided it was okay to come for 9 year old Best Actress nominee, Quvenzhané Wallis. The satirical, online-based news source decided it was okay to call Wallis a c**t while live tweeting the Academy Awards. For those who don’t know what that bit of slander means, it’s a terrible way to refer to a woman’s genitalia and is one of the ugliest, most derogatory ways to refer to someone.
And just when this little brown girl decided that she was going to respectfully challenge someone’s apparent problem with pronouncing her name correctly, she gets called something offensive – simply because she didn’t want to be renamed. It appears that The Onion decided to tweet such a thing after hearing the poised 9 year old conduct an interview and (politely) correcting the interviewer’s pronunciation of her name.
Almost immediately, much of the Twittersphere was outraged, calling for the Onion to apologize and replying to the tweet letting “America’s finest news source” know what they said was not funny – not even in the least bit. Per usual with any type of controversy, other Twitter users immediately responded to the backlash saying that it was unnecessary, simply because satirical commentary is what The Onion does. The site constantly tip toes on the line between caustic comedy and scathing satire.
That’s the ironic thing about comedy. Some of it almost always offends or critiques, and much of it creates a divided audience. Personally, I consider myself to have a healthy sense of humor and I’ve even chuckled many times at some of The Onion’s other quick witted, satirical commentary. This time, however, it should be unanimous that what The Onion said about Quvenzhané was simply unacceptable. Within an hour of posting, the tweet was deleted, but the damage was already done. And, although the news outlet’s CEO, Steve Hannah, personally wrote a message apologizing for the offensive tweet, the fact remains that it should have never been said.
I’ve written before about the attempted annihilation of the Black woman’s self esteem in mainstream media as of late. But, never did I ever think I’d have to write about some of those same damaging trends directly impacting the likes of a young, fresh faced 9 year old girl. It’s one thing to talk about the disrespect adult Black women are victims of on the daily, but it’s a whole other thing entirely when we are faced with having to protect our daughters, little sisters, and nieces – children – from things only adults (and really no one) should have to deal with.Whoever thought it was okay to refer to a little brown girl in such a slanderous way does not need to be given the privilege of handling The Onion’s brand in such a public media space, where tweets, Facebook posts, and Instagram pictures are written in permanent ink, once screenshots and caches links to such things are created.
Who knows if Quvenzhané even knows about the firestorm of controversy surrounding what was, undoubtedly, one of the most exciting accomplishments of her young life? Whether she was aware or not, the fact remains that The Onion was wrong. And, like most little brown boys and girls of color, Quvenzhané now has to experience more of the trauma that comes with the Black existence, amplified by fame and an unforgiving media space.
If we accept and acquiesce in the face of discrimination, we accept the responsibility ourselves. We should, therefore, protest openly everything … that smacks of discrimination or slander. -Mary McCleod Bethune
What are your thoughts on this debacle? Is an apology from The Onion enough?
