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1.One of the worst examples is whenKelly Osbournethought she was making a powerful statement about the value of immigrants andended upsuggesting immigrants are necessary because they clean toilets.
2.Though perhaps even worse is the cringe-worthy timeTom Hiddlestonused his acceptance speech at theGolden Globesto talk about the impact his TV show had had on aid workers in South Sudan,leadingto some accusing him of trivializing the issue and having an inflated sense of importance.
3.While many stars chimed in with impactful stories in the wake of the #metoo movement,Mayim Bialikmaybe should’ve kept silent. In anop-edfor theNew YorkTimes, Bialik spoke about how she hadn’t been a victim of the casting couch because she was not a “perfect 10” and had the “luxury” of being overlooked. She also spoke about her “self-protecting and wise” choices to reserve her “sexual self” for “private situations,” to “dress modestly,” and to retrain from acting “flirtatiously with men” — and seemed to suggest other women should do the same, though she acknowledged those “choices might feel oppressive to many young feminists.”
“In a perfect world, women should be free to act however they want. But our world isn’t perfect. Nothing — absolutely nothing — excuses men for assaulting or abusing women. But we can’t be naïve about the culture we live in,” she continued, adding that “having others celebrate your physical beauty is not the way to lead a meaningful life.” She finished, “If — like me — you’re not a perfect 10, know that there are people out there who will find you stunning, irresistible, and worthy of attention, respect, and love. The best part is you don’t have to go to a hotel room or a casting couch to find them.” It was an odd time to platform this perspective in a conversation about sexual assault and harassment, and even though Bialik was careful not to place blame on women, her words still served to put responsibility on women.
4.In another example where Bialik felt the need to make a public statement about something that ended up shaming women, Bialiktook issuewith a billboard of Ariana Grande. In an article for a parenting site, she wrote, “I am a bleeding heart liberal without exception. But I am old-fashioned. My kids have clothes they only wear to synagogue. I don’t favor my kids cursing. I dress modestly. I don’t want my kids learning about sex from billboards. Stuff like that. Which is why a few billboards I have seen lately really bug me. There is one for Ariana Grande, and I will go ahead and admit I have no idea who she is or what she does. Based on the billboard, she sells lingerie. Or stiletto heels. Or plastic surgery because every woman over 22 wishes she has that body, I’m sure.”
“Why is she in her underwear on this billboard though? And if she has a talent (is she a singer?), then why does she have to sell herself in lingerie?” Bialik continued. “I mean, I know that society is patriarchal and women are expected to be sexy and sexually available no matter what we do in society, but I guess now I need to explain that to my sons?” Fans were left wondering why Bialik needed to make this statement, feeling it only served to shame women.
5.Lena Dunhamoncemade the head-scratching statement that she wished she’d had an abortion, which many felt trivialized how difficult the experience of getting an abortion can be. Speaking on her podcast about visiting a Planned Parenthood in Texas, she said she was asked to share her abortion story. “I sort of jumped. ‘I haven’t had an abortion.’ … I wanted to make it really clear to her that as much as I was going out and fighting for other women’s options, I myself had never had an abortion. And I realized then that even I was carrying within myself stigma around this issue. … It was an important moment for me then to realize that I had internalized some of what society was throwing at us. And I had to put it in the garbage.” She continued, “Now I can say that I still haven’t had an abortion, but I wish I had.”
6.Ahead of cohosting the 2022 Oscars, Amy Schumerdiscussedthe potential to platform global issues at the ceremony. She even said she wanted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to speak (the Academy reportedly refused). However, at the actual ceremony, Schumer only made athrowawayreference to Ukraine, lumping the conflict in with attacks on women’s and trans rights. “There’s a genocide going on in the Ukraine and women are losing all their rights and trans people…and now please welcome Anthony Hopkins,” shesaidbefore giving the floor to Hopkins, who was introducing Best Actress.
7.Sean Pennalsomade a Ukraine-related gesture that many felt was empty. After discussing the Academy’s reported refusal of having President Zelenskyy Zoom in to the ceremony, Penn ranted over what became the biggest moment of the night instead — Will Smith slapping Chris Rock. “The Oscars producer thought, ‘Oh, he’s not light-hearted enough.’ Well, guess what you got instead? Will Smith! … This fucking bullshit wouldn’t have happened with Zelenskyy. Will Smith would never have left that chair to be part of stupid violence. It never would have happened.” He then said he wanted to destroy his Oscars by melting them down to be made into bullets for Ukraine to use against Russia.
Penn actuallyended upfollowing through, giving one of his statues to President Zelenskyy. “This is for you. It’s just a symbolic silly thing, but if I know this is here, then I’ll feel better and strong enough for the fights,” he told Zelenskyy. “When you win, bring it back to Malibu, because I’ll feel much better knowing there’s a piece of me here.”
“The Oscar is there in his office, and ready to be melted any time he wants to melt it," he latertoldthe press, calling the gift “a small gesture, symbolic between two friends — inspired by my continuing shame towards the leadership of the Motion Picture Academy in choosing to present Will Smith smacking Chris Rock rather than the greatest symbol of cinema and humanity living today. Their loss.” While it was a nice gesture, giving an Oscar to a war-torn country felt sort of useless, especially given Penn kept bringing up Will Smith and the Academy rather than the war in Ukraine.
8.Too often, celebrities attempt to make political statements on Twitter…which almost always come across wrong. In response to a troll asking if she was trans after she posted a message of trans allyship, Alyssa Milanotweeted, “I’m trans. I’m a person of color. I’m an immigrant. I’m a lesbian. I’m a gay man. I’m the disabled. I’m everything.” Milano — who is none of the above, quicklystartedreceiving backlash. Fans were also unhappy with her use of the term “the disabled.”
9.In another example, after the investigation regarding Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s rape allegations, Bette Midlerparaphraseda John Lennon and Yoko Ono song by tweeting, “Women, are the n word of the world.” She continued, “Raped, beaten, enslaved, married off, worked like dumb animals; denied education and inheritance; enduring the pain and danger of childbirth and life IN SILENCE for THOUSANDS of years. They are the most disrespected creatures on earth.”
13.After the 2020 Oscars declined to nominate any women for Best Director, Natalie Portmanattemptedto make a positive statement by wearing a cape embroidered with the names of snubbed female directors to the ceremony. However, fans — and Rose McGowan —were quickto point out that Natalie Portman has her own production company, and the only female director it has ever hired is her. Portman has also rarely worked with female directors on feature films.
14.She had previously said, “Here are the all-male nominees"whenpresenting for Best Director at the Golden Globes in 2018. While making a statement about the lack of female directors in Hollywood seems good, it felt like an empty remark coming from Portman.
15.Similarly, at the 2018 Oscars, Emma StoneintroducedBest Director by saying, “These four men and Greta Gerwig created their own masterpieces.” While some fans were thrilled at Stone calling out the lack of recognition and support for female directors in Hollywood, others felt that categorizing the four male nominees as “four men” was reductive, especially considering Jordan Peele had been nominated forGet Out.Peele wasonlythe fifth-ever Black person to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar, and no Black person had ever won (conversely, a female director, Kathryn Bigelow, had won the award in 2009).
17.Speaking of Streep — she once served as the jury president of the Berlin Film Festival. Atapress conference for the event, a reporter pointed out, “There is a film that is representing Tunisia and the Arab world and Africa in the main competition,” thenaskedStreep, “How do you see this part of the world, and is it easy for you to understand that culture, and are you following any Arab movies?” Streep replied that she had seenTheebandTimbuktubut didn’t “know very much about the Middle East.”
18.Many haveaccusedTaylor Swift of white feminism, where only the perspective of white women is platformed, erasing the issues women of color face. In one example, she called out Nicki Minaj for “pit[ting] women against each other” after Minaj criticized the VMAs for not nominating “Anaconda” for Best Video. As Minaj hadn’t named Taylor (whose video was nominated) and had brought up valid points about the lack of body diversity in popular music, many were bothered Swift had centered the conversation around her. Others felt that dismissing valid concerns about representation in a female achievement category as anti-women because it “pits women against each other” was reductive and only served to reinforce a homogenous version of feminism centered around thin, white bodies.
19.Swift also oncecalled outthe showGinny & Georgiafor its “deeply sexist” joke about her, writing, “How about we stop degrading hard working women by defining this horse shit as FuNnY. Also, @netflix afterMiss Americanathis outfit doesn’t look cute on you. Happy Women’s History Month I guess.” While Taylor was well within her rights to criticize the sexist joke, this public denouncementledto her fans targeting hate at Antonia Gentry, the biracial star of the show, who did not write the joke. While this isn’t Swift’s fault, it’s unfortunate Swift’s statement led to hate toward a BIPOC woman.
20.Lana Del Rey has often been accused of glamorizing abuse in her music. Speaking out against these accusations, Del Reyposteda lengthy statement on Instagram called “Question for the culture,” where she wrote that she was just a “glamorous person singing about the realities of what we are all now seeing are very prevalent emotionally abusive relationships all around the world.” She also questioned how other artists were able to get away with sexually explicit music, while she was “crucified” for her own lyrics. While Del Rey made some valid points, the fact that she almost exclusively called out Black artists in her post, along with her statement, “There has to be a place in feminism for women who look and act like me,” caused backlash.
21.In the wake of the infamous Kanye x Taylor Swift feud of 2016, Selena Gomez (who is friends with Swift)tweeted,“There are more important things to talk about… Why can’t people use their voice for something that f***ing matters?” However, fans werequickto point out that Gomez hadn’t recently spoken up about social and political issues, such as police brutality, which they felt was hypocritical.
22.On the other hand, one celeb who spoke out about police brutality was David Guetta — but people were less than thrilled with his tribute. While livestreaming a DJ set for COVID relief, Guettasaidhe’d “made a special record in honor of George Floyd,” adding, “shoutout to his family” before playing an EDM mashup of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech — alongwiththe Hamster Dance song — and dancing.
23.Demi Lovato has made many impactful statements about disordered eating. Still, her statements fell flat when she called out local Los Angeles yogurt shop The Bigg Chill (known for its sugar-free, vegan, and gluten-free options) on her Instagram. Shewrote, “Finding it extremely hard to order froyo from @TheBiggChillOfficial when you have to walk past tons of sugar free cookies/other diet foods before you get to the counter. Do better please. @DietCultureVultures.” She then wrote, “So I think I’m gonna have to make that hashtag a thing. I will be calling harmful messaging from brands or companies that perpetuate a society that not only enables but praises disordered eating.”
After fans — and the shop itself — pointed out that The Bigg Chill is known for its options for people with dietary restrictions (such as those with celiac or diabetes), Lovato doubled down, telling the brand they should label their sugar-free and vegan options as being “for celiac or diabetes or vegans.” Fans were still disappointed in Demi’s response, especially as she disparaged a small local business during the pandemic, when many businesses struggled. She later apologized, but said, “My intuition said speak up about this, so I did. And I feel good about that. What I don’t feel good about is some of the way it’s been interpreted and how the message has gotten misconstrued.”
