# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/81 "2013-02-25T18:52:45Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > This is horrendous, disguting, and inexcusable. > This might even be worse than when Jonathan Swift suggested that the Irish sell their children as food. :mad: Swift wasn’t pointing to any specific Irish child and suggesting recipes. The Onion was insulting a specific little girl. It was crass. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/82 "2013-02-25T18:57:03Z")
> [@SleuFeets](#): > > I actually thought that was a little strange for the Onion as well. It seems as if they’ve just started relying on shock jock tactics as opposed to actually writing a decent joke. I don’t see it. They do jokes, they do weird stuff, they do shocking stuff. There has always been a mix. The bottom line here, at least to me, is that they got in trouble for saying “cunt.” They did a pretty predictable joke about a child actress everyone likes, and if they’d used a different word I think nobody would care. It’s not a great joke or anything, but it doesn’t merit this kind of reaction. They could’ve made the exact same joke about the girl from Whale Rider a few years ago- although she’s half-Maori, so maybe someone would’ve said that was racist, too. > [@SleuFeets](#): > > Louis Ck is actually also very conscious when it comes to race and awareness. I have no trouble imagining him not calling a 9 year old black girl a cunt. I don’t know where you’re going with this. ---
**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 25, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/83 "2013-02-25T18:57:26Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > Of course they did. HE is the target, not the baby. Who exactly is the target of the deleted Onion tweet? The media and celebrity obsessed society. It blows my mind that people think Quvenzhané was the target of that tweet. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/84 "2013-02-25T19:01:24Z")
The Onion shouldn’t have tweeted it. Not because it wasn’t funny. It was. But because it wasn’t funny enough to be worth the inevitable shitstorm. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/85 "2013-02-25T19:03:11Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > I find Steve Hannah’s letter and his need to “discipline those individuals responsible” to be more offensive than the original Tweet. Unless it’s also satire, in which case it’s kinda brilliant! ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/86 "2013-02-25T19:03:30Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > The media and celebrity obsessed society. > > It blows my mind that people think Quvenzhané was the target of that tweet. I don’t think for a second she was the target of the joke. I got it and thought it was pretty funny. But I can also understand why many are upset. ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/87 "2013-02-25T19:04:28Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > This topic has made me very emotional. I’m going to bow out of this thread before I say something even stupider than usual. For what it’s worth, Friedo, I agree with you. It crosses the line when you make a blue joke like that with a child as its subject. I might be wrong, but I also recall that Dakota Fanning was the target of a similar joke (about boozing and smoking, IIRC) _during the Oscar ceremony_; this joke at the expense of QW had nothing to do with the color of her skin. ---
**Author:** ![SleuFeets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@SleuFeets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SleuFeets)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/88 "2013-02-25T19:16:25Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I don’t know where you’re going with this. Exactly my point. Without going into too much detail/history, I think it safe to say that The Onion prides itself on being bitingly intelligent. Often times in the context of progressive political thought. Like when they talked about Planned Parenthood’s upcoming abortion mall/because that was planned parenthoods main focus (and not educating women). Or even , how they made fun of the … you know what, to make it simple. instead of the apology they should have written an article that said something like this: “Left Leaning Progressive Satire Paper whose targe demographic is Wealthy White Male Hipsters Everywhere Publically calls little black girl , a rare Oscar nominee, a cunt during black history month” ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/89 "2013-02-25T19:17:55Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > Of course they did. HE is the target, not the baby. Who exactly is the target of the deleted Onion tweet? Baby was called “nigger,” “colored” and “tar baby” in that story. Wallis was called a “cunt” in the Tweet. Neither the baby nor Wallis were the target of the satire, but why is everyone up in arms over one but not the other? Why does everyone “get” the former, but not the latter? Why can they target a racist asshole through the use of extreme, embellished language in one story, but they can’t target a catty group of assholes through the use of extreme, embellished language in a Tweet? It makes no sense. The Onion is \*always \*saying offensive shit, even attaching offensive language to real-life children to satirize something. It’s hypocritical to get all remorseful now and it shows no consistency in what is allowed or isn’t allowed under their brand. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/90 "2013-02-25T19:19:29Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Neither the baby nor Wallis were the target of the satire, but why is everyone up in arms over one but not the other? How do you know they aren’t? In social media, especially stuff like Twitter and Tumblr, I wouldn’t be surprised if you could find just as much outrage about it somewhere. ---
**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 25, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/91 "2013-02-25T19:21:59Z")
> [@SleuFeets](#): > > “Left Leaning Progressive Satire Paper whose targe demographic is Wealthy White Male Hipsters Everywhere Publically calls little black girl , a rare Oscar nominee, a cunt during black history month” For the love of Little Black Baby Jesus, this wasn’t about race. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/92 "2013-02-25T19:28:09Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Baby was called “nigger,” “colored” and “tar baby” in that story. > Wallis was called a “cunt” in the Tweet. > > Neither the baby nor Wallis were the target of the satire, but why is everyone up in arms over one but not the other? Why does everyone “get” the former, but not the latter? Why can they target a racist asshole through the use of extreme, embellished language in one story, but they can’t target a catty group of assholes through the use of extreme, embellished language in a Tweet? > > It makes no sense. The Onion is \*always \*saying offensive shit, even attaching offensive language to real-life children to satirize something. It’s hypocritical to get all remorseful now and it shows no consistency in what is allowed or isn’t allowed under their brand. Maybe if the Tweet had been attributed to, say, Jennifer Lawrence or Jessica Chastain then the target of the satire would’ve been clearer to more people. ---
**Author:** ![SleuFeets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@SleuFeets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SleuFeets)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/93 "2013-02-25T19:28:20Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > For the love of Little Black Baby Jesus, this wasn’t about race. I love how men say things are sexist. And non melanin peoples say things aren’t racist - because of course - the non targeted group IS the authority on determining if something is offensive. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/94 "2013-02-25T19:29:29Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > How do you know they aren’t? > > In social media, especially stuff like Twitter and Tumblr, I wouldn’t be surprised if you could find just as much outrage about it somewhere. One’s still up, while the other isn’t and resulted in an unprecedented apology from the CEO, complete with a promise of disciplinary action. ---
**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 25, 2013, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/95 "2013-02-25T19:31:06Z")
> [@SleuFeets](#): > > I love how men say things are sexist. > > And non melanin peoples say things aren’t racist - because of course - the non targeted group IS the authority on determining if something is offensive. :smack: What are “non melanin peoples”? Do black people count? If so, please revise this post and resubmit. ---
**Author:** ![SleuFeets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@SleuFeets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SleuFeets)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/96 "2013-02-25T19:33:15Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > What are “non melanin peoples”? Do black people count? If so, please revise this post and resubmit. Black people have melanin. Non melanin people are people with no melanin. … ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/97 "2013-02-25T19:33:58Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > One’s still up, while the other isn’t and resulted in an unprecedented apology from the CEO, complete with a promise of disciplinary action. I’m sure that disciplinary action will be quite severe too. I imagine it’ll go something like this: “Hey Dan, you know that tweet you sent? Well done, no really… super funny. But be careful next time, sometimes dumb people read this stuff too.” ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/98 "2013-02-25T19:34:44Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > One’s still up, while the other isn’t and resulted in an unprecedented apology from the CEO, complete with a promise of disciplinary action. True, but there’s a lot of impotent Internet outrage out there. Doesn’t mean that there wasn’t equal _outrage_ — just that it didn’t DO anything. ---
**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 25, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/99 "2013-02-25T19:34:57Z")
> [@SleuFeets](#): > > Black people have melanin. Non melanin people are people with no melanin. > … I typo’d that, and you responded before I got edit. Unless you consider black people “non melanin peoples,” you need to revise your highly ridiculous post to me. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329/100 "2013-02-25T19:35:07Z")
> [@SleuFeets](#): > > Black people have melanin. Non melanin people are people with no melanin. > … This post made my brain hurt so fucking bad. Melanin people no melanin that black people non melanin? Melanin. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-calls-quevanzhane-wallis-a-cunt/651329.md?page=6)