# The Onion calls Quevanzhane Wallis a cunt. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 25, 2013, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329 "2013-02-25T06:40:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/201 "2013-02-26T01:32:15Z")
They were clearly trying to get humor out of the offensiveness itself. And yeah, that sometimes works. But you have to be really careful with that kind of humor, because when it fails, it fails badly. As I think it did here. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/202 "2013-02-26T01:41:54Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > Sweet mother of Og, does anyone have a decoder ring? Because I have no idea what in the ever-loving blue fuck that this means. She’s just saying words now. They’re not in any particular order and they don’t mean anything. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/203 "2013-02-26T03:08:20Z")
I hesitate to bring this up, since it’s probably only a result of my own fevered imagination, but it seems to me that The Onion (or, at least, the Tweeter) may have intended a different direction for their joke (that is, not irony based on the fact that she’s sweet, etc.): If you drunkenly squint[sup]\*[/sup] at the pronunciation of Quvenzhane (which would normally be something close to “K’venjinay”), it sounds sorta like K’vajinay, which can be corrupted to K’vagina, and from which one could easily get to “Cunt”. So it may well have been a stupid pun on her name itself, rather than a comment (satirical or otherwise) on her personality. Not that it really matters, I guess, what the intended joke was supposed to be… - Aurally, of course ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/204 "2013-02-26T03:44:09Z")
> [@Darwins\_Finch](#): > > I hesitate to bring this up, since it’s probably only a result of my own fevered imagination, but it seems to me that The Onion (or, at least, the Tweeter) may have intended a different direction for their joke (that is, not irony based on the fact that she’s sweet, etc.): > > If you drunkenly squint[sup]\*[/sup] at the pronunciation of Quvenzhane (which would normally be something close to “K’venjinay”), it sounds sorta like K’vajinay, which can be corrupted to K’vagina, and from which one could easily get to “Cunt”. So it may well have been a stupid pun on her name itself, rather than a comment (satirical or otherwise) on her personality. > > Not that it really matters, I guess, what the intended joke was supposed to be… > > - Aurally, of course You must do yoga. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/205 "2013-02-26T03:49:54Z")
> [@Carmady](#): > > The main distinction to me is not race or gender, but age. It is plausible that a kid could be hurt by something like this, not only by misunderstanding the intent, but just hurt by the words themselves even if she does understand it meant the opposite. That’s kind of my feeling. If some hipster decided to make a similar joke about one of my 9-year-old students, really intending to draw attention to the deplorable state of discussion of education or something else, I wouldn’t much care about whatever satirical point they were trying to make: I’d want them to make it without involving my student in their exercise. I absolutely don’t think they were targeting the girl with the humor, but I also don’t think they thought about how it might affect her, if/when she inevitably finds out. That’s not racist, and it’s not horrifying, but it’s also not harmless. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/206 "2013-02-26T03:50:18Z")
Or maybe work for Snyder’s? Or Frito-Lay at the Rold Gold plant? ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/207 "2013-02-26T04:43:28Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > She’s just saying words now. They’re not in any particular order and they don’t mean anything. Well, that makes infinitely more sense than anything I could parse it out to me. Not to beat a Princess Bride horse to death or anything, but I really don’t think _analogy_ means what she thinks it means. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/208 "2013-02-26T04:50:56Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > You must do yoga. Nah, sleep-deprivation combined with sleep-inducing medication are just doing weird things to my thought processes. Just ignore me. I’m going to go pass out now… ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/209 "2013-02-26T05:30:39Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > **SleuFeets** , an acclaimed 9-year-old actor who just became world famous and who appears to be on the verge of a lucrative film career is not in any way underprivileged or unknown or victimized. I assume you’re not saying that she cannot, by definition, be victimized. Though really, it may depend on what you think of Hollywood in the first place. 🙂 And some commentary from social media: > [@The New Yorker](#): > > But any award for a misogynistic low point involving Wallis would have to be a tie between MacFarlane and the Onion. … The line was deleted an hour later. But rather than being an aberration, it was of a piece with the evening. Act assertively, and we’ll put you down. (As with the Salma Hayek thing, there may have been a racial strain to this one, which only makes it more enraging.) And anyway, when you grow up, we’ll just want you to show your boobs. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/210 "2013-02-26T05:54:06Z")
I heart the onion and I was offended. Instantly. Enormously. Calling a kid, any kid, a cunt publicly is the end of the story for me. You don’t do that. You especially don’t do that to a kid who is newly famous, but that’s window dressing and unneeded. It’s offensive, extremely offensive on it’s own, with no other context than “some well-read website calls a kid a cunt”. Done. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/211 "2013-02-26T12:42:22Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > I heart the onion and I was offended. Instantly. Enormously. Calling a kid, any kid, a cunt publicly is the end of the story for me. You don’t do that. You especially don’t do that to a kid who is newly famous, but that’s window dressing and unneeded. It’s offensive, extremely offensive on it’s own, with no other context than “some well-read website calls a kid a cunt”. Done. I trust you’ll be returning your Onion card cut into 12 indignant pieces, accompanied by a sternly-worded letter of disapprobation. "Dear Sirs: Of the many sacred oxen available in your creative corral, you have now thoughtlessly chosen to gore mine…" ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/212 "2013-02-26T13:17:38Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I trust you’ll be returning your Onion card cut into 12 indignant pieces, accompanied by a sternly-worded letter of disapprobation. > > "Dear Sirs: > > Of the many sacred oxen available in your creative corral, you have now thoughtlessly chosen to gore mine…" Right. I take posts like that with the same salt that I take when people who say, “I don’t believe in the death penalty, but for THIS I will make an exception!” ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/213 "2013-02-26T13:54:29Z")
Everyone has their line that when a joke crosses it, you think “whoa, not funny.” Everyone’s line is somewhere different, though. The onion joke happened to cross a lot of people’s lines. But most of their jokes cross SOMEBODY’S line so I’m kind of pissed off and disappointed that they apologized for this one. Also, the funnier the joke, the more offensive you can make it and still get away with it IMO. This joke was pretty fucking hilarious. (Again IMO.) ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/214 "2013-02-26T13:57:16Z")
This is really about the movie seat again, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/215 "2013-02-26T14:08:58Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Everyone has their line that when a joke crosses it, you think “whoa, not funny.” \ Hmm. You know something? I’m starting to think there may be something a little fucked up with me. I’m not sure I have a ‘whoa, not funny’ line. I mean, I have a ‘eh, not funny’ line. Some shit just isn’t funny. But as far as, “That is so offensive, I don’t think it is funny.” I just don’t think I have that. It could be that I’m fucked up for that. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/216 "2013-02-26T14:22:35Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Hmm. You know something? I’m starting to think there may be something a little fucked up with me. I’m not sure I have a ‘whoa, not funny’ line. > > I mean, I have a ‘eh, not funny’ line. Some shit just isn’t funny. But as far as, “That is so offensive, I don’t think it is funny.” I just don’t think I have that. > > It could be that I’m fucked up for that. I don’t think it’s fucked up. It seems normal to me anyway. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/217 "2013-02-26T14:41:17Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Hmm. You know something? I’m starting to think there may be something a little fucked up with me. I’m not sure I have a ‘whoa, not funny’ line. > > I mean, I have a ‘eh, not funny’ line. Some shit just isn’t funny. But as far as, “That is so offensive, I don’t think it is funny.” I just don’t think I have that. > > It could be that I’m fucked up for that. Maybe I should have said most people, not all people. There’s a British comedian, Jimmy Carr, who does a routine where he says that he’s going to see where people’s lines are, and how far he can go before he loses the entire audience, and he starts off with Holocaust jokes and kind of ramps up from there. So I’m watching this, and I was cool until he got to this joke about kicking a pregnant woman down the stairs. I know that premise sounds fucked-up, but the joke itself was actually reasonably funny. I was able to objectively recognize the humor, but something about it just rang my “dude, not cool” bell. But here’s the thing: Even though the jokes in this routine got more and more and more over the top (I think he finished up with some 9/11 jokes), people in that auditorium were laughing at every single one of them. Maybe not every person laughed at every single joke, but still. That’s what I mean when I say everyone’s got a different line. And maybe some people don’t have a line at all (or maybe it’s just really hard to cross it). ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/218 "2013-02-26T14:46:35Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Maybe I should have said most people, not all people. There’s a British comedian, Jimmy Carr, who does a routine where he says that he’s going to see where people’s lines are, and how far he can go before he loses the entire audience, and he starts off with Holocaust jokes and kind of ramps up from there. So I’m watching this, and I was cool until he got to this joke about kicking a pregnant woman down the stairs. I know that premise sounds fucked-up, but the joke itself was actually reasonably funny. I was able to objectively recognize the humor, but something about it just rang my “dude, not cool” bell. But here’s the thing: Even though the jokes in this routine got more and more and more over the top (I think he finished up with some 9/11 jokes), people in that auditorium were laughing at every single one of them. Maybe not every person laughed at every single joke, but still. That’s what I mean when I say everyone’s got a different line. And maybe some people don’t have a line at all (or maybe it’s just really hard to cross it). So, you KNOW I’m off to youtube trying to find that video, right? I used to have this Hebrew friend (well, half Hebrew, half Argentinian. He was awesome, I miss him so freakin much). He and I shared a sense of humor. We knew we had to be careful with it and be sure not to share it with those who would get offended, but with each other we lampooned everything all the time. He was super smart, like crazy smart. And he was a writer and had a way with words, and he was just the funniest person to me. So one day, I noticed something. He never, ever made Jewish jokes and I never made them around him. Fat jokes, cool. Black jokes, cool. Gay jokes, cool. Dead baby jokes, fine. Jew jokes? Hmm. Never. I would have never thought he has a sacred cow, but I think he did. And maybe I have one I haven’t noticed yet, but I just don’t think of humor in the same category that I think of anything else. Just totally different lanes for me. If someone tells a racist joke, that tells me NOTHING about rather or not they are racist. Nothing. I need other evidence because humor and ethics doesn’t overlap for me. I can laugh my ass off at fat people, but then turn around and help one (or, actually, BE one.) **I do believe there is a time and a place for humor**. Getting back to the OP, the Onion is the place and Hollywood is always the time. If you are a child working in Hollywood, someone better get to prepping you for that side of it. I think Q may decide that having her name involved with tasteless jokes is small potatoes compared to the perks of fame. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/219 "2013-02-26T15:14:10Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > So, you KNOW I’m off to youtube trying to find that video, right? [Here you go.](http://www.boremerigid.com/posting.php?id=31634#.USzQTetATnU) This was a stone-cold bitch to find, I’ll have you know. Also, I misremembered slightly; he doesn’t get to the Holocaust jokes until about three minutes in. Enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/220 "2013-02-26T15:19:10Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > I assume you’re not saying that she cannot, by definition, be victimized. No, that would be very unreasonable. I am saying that **SleuFeets** is exaggerating Wallis’ supposed low status. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329.md?page=12)