Journalists — or anyone, really — in the digital age have become hardwired to stand out on social media by leaving *spicy* comments. Unfortunately, sometimes those spicy comments can leave a really, really bad taste in our mouths.
Two wordsmiths from Vanity Fair and Harper’s magazine found themselves apologizing for their comments after they publicly criticized the appearance of Beyoncé and JAY-Z’s 7-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, because… social media.
The comments came after Meghan Thee Stallion shared photos of herself with Bey and Blue celebrating New Year’s Eve on her Instagram page.
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This cute, smiley pic (above) inspired Vanity Fair critic K. Austin Collins to write in a since-deleted tweet:
“I have a feeling the jay z face genes are about to really hit Blue Ivy and I feel so sorry for her.”
Yup. Just a professional film critic tweeting scurrilous words about a child’s appearance.
Sadly, the insult party was just getting started. A web editor at Harper’s replied:
“Or she’ll just get plastic surgery at 16 a la Kylie Jenner and we’ll all have to pretend that she always looked that way… I can’t allow myself to feel too sorry for the incredibly rich!”
Yikes.
Look, we know we’ve had our own s**t moments in the past, but damn!
Both writers deleted their tweets, but not before their words sparked an outcry on social media.
Collins was the first to issue a rather genuine sounding apology, tweeting:
“I’m sorry about the Blue Ivy tweet — bad joke, and black girls in particular deserve better.”
He later responded to a person who shamed him for the harsh words, writing:
“No, you’re right. Poor form on my end. Thanks all for calling it out.”
The Harper’s critic, for her part, admitted her comment was “petty,” but seemed to think her own critics were being too harsh. She wrote to a Twitter user:
“Sorry I was cleaning my apartment while this blew up… children of famous ought to be off limits, but time and again they haven’t been. So I said something petty and have been called ugly, old, and a racist.”
She then issued a seemingly sarcastic apology, writing in a follow-up tweet:
“I’m not playing the victim…sorry that I insulted Beyoncé’s daughter by suggesting that she might get plastic surgery some day, like many children of famous people do.”
You can almost taste the bitterness!
Is it just us, or does anyone else need a palate cleanser after too much social media ingestion?
[Image via Instagram]
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