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Image: Rich Polk / Getty Images for MTV
Rebel Wilson got a little warm on Thursday for declaring herself the first woman to be the star of a romantic comedy. (His new movie It's not romantic leaves on the next Valentine's Day.)
She was wrong: Queen Latifah and Mo, for example, have taken over these roles in the past.
I still can not believe that Rebel Wilson has lessened the lie that she is the first fat actress to star in a romantic comedy. As Mo nãoique did not get a handsome doctor on Phat Girlz! As Queen Latifah did not get the Common AND LL Cool J!
– Evette Dionne ??♀️ (@freeblackgirl) November 3, 2018
Instead of admitting his gaffe and moving on, it seems Wilson is blocking the people who pointed out his mistake on Twitter. In particular, countless color critics – many of whom mentioned Queen Latifah and MoNique in their comments – reported having been blocked by Wilson over the weekend. (MoNique encouraged Wilson to "take a moment and get to know the story," but, as far as we know, she not locked.)
The film and television critic ReBecca Theodore-Vachon even gave a hashtag: #RebelWilsonBlockedMe. (There are many tweets about this that do not use the hashtag as well).
I shared my honest and respectful thoughts about erasing iconic women the size of Rebel Wilson before her.
The fact that she blocks a colleague and another woman in this industry is a reminder that she does not want to recognize her colleagues but ignore them altogether. pic.twitter.com/icUvY9QrCR
– Nabela (@abela) November 3, 2018
Wilson did tweet in an answer to the playwright Claire Willett, on Saturday, she will address what happened "while promoting[[[[It's not romantic]forums. "
"It was never my intention to erase the achievements of anyone else and I love you and Queen Latifah so much," she also tweeted in response to Mo's criticism. "I support every woman the size and everything positive we are doing together."
So maybe an apology is posted, but that's still a disturbing sequence of events for a few reasons. First, it is clear from a quick Google search that Wilson's original claim was not true – did she do any research? Then Wilson's choice of blocking people of color by criticizing her also makes her seem not only willing to listen, but unwilling to hear voices different from her own.
"We have to stand up," Willett wrote on Twitter"and that means crediting the women who arrived first."