The Onion Apologizes to Quvenzhané Wallis?
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Patrice Ellerbe, Staff WriterLast Modified: 00:41 a.m. EDT, 3 March 2013
United States - As viewers were glued to their television screens during the Oscars on Sunday night, “Americas Finest News Source," The Onion, issued an apology to 9-year-old Best Actress nominee, Quvenzhané Wallis. The site posted an offensive slur on their Twitter page, towards Wallis.
During the live broadcast of the Academy Awards ceremony, a site contributor suggested, “Everyone else seems afraid to say it, but that Quvenzhané Wallis is kind of a cunt right? #Oscars2013."
The Onion’s CEO, Steve Hannah, issued a letter on the false news outlets Facebook page, apologizing for the post and claimed immediate action would take place.
According to the Huffington Post, the letter reads: “On behalf of The Onion, I offer my personal apology to Quvenzhané Wallis and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the tweet that was circulated last night during the Oscars. It was crude an offensive- not to mention inconsistent with The Onion’s commitment to parody and satire, however, biting.”
After being criticized by followers and other Twitter users, the tweet was deleted about an hour after being posted. According to the news source, Huffington Post, Hannah has confirmed they have “instituted new and tighter Twitter procedures to ensure that this kind of mistake does not occur again”. However, a situation like this should not have occurred at all. Bashing and degrading a 9 year-old girl is horrendous behavior. Hannah claims the persons responsible have been dealt with accordingly.
In the past, The Onion is has not confronted controversy in this way. As the site is humorous, it typically addresses conflicting situations in a not so serious way as they did in 2011 when a shooter in Washington, DC was on the loose. The parody site said, “This is satire. That’s how this works”.
Although the site finds humor out of serious situations at times, there is no excuse as to why anyone should attack a child, especially during such an extravagant evening. Not many children are nominated for awards as elite as an Oscar.
Follow Patrice Ellerbe on Twitter Twitter: @nahmias_report Staff Writer: @PatriceEllerbeRelated articles
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- The Onion Apologizes to Quvenzhané Wallis (atlantablackstar.com)
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