Update: The Onion Apologizes to Quvenzhane

The Onion has issued a formal apology for the abusive tweet that was posted about Quvenzhane Wallis during The Oscar Awards on Sunday.

Dear Readers,

On behalf of The Onion, I offer my personal apology to Quvenzhané Wallis and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the tweet that was circulated last night during the Oscars. It was crude and offensive—not to mention inconsistent with The Onion’s commitment to parody and satire, however biting.

No person should be subjected to such a senseless, humorless comment masquerading as satire.

The tweet was taken down within an hour of publication. We have instituted new and tighter Twitter procedures to ensure that this kind of mistake does not occur again.

In addition, we are taking immediate steps to discipline those individuals responsible.

Miss Wallis, you are young and talented and deserve better. All of us at The Onion are deeply sorry.

Sincerely,

Steve Hannah
CEO
The Onion

Steve Hannah is to be commended for handling this situation in a prompt manner.  I like the no excuses tone of the apology and the plans to make sure that there are better controls over the content of their tweets.

This does not clear up my initial concerns over the matter. I still feel that the individual or individuals responsible need to be outed to the public.  Why?  I feel that they need to give an accounting as to why they thought that description was appropriate to use for a girl?

The use of the word cunt in terms of female behavior is not one that is positive.  It indicates that the woman has mannerisms that others find unacceptable.  

There are a lot of people defending the use of this term and trying to justify it as acceptable.  The fact that African Americans raised a protest is being questioned because there is this misconception that we would not respond if the girl had been of another race.  This is nothing but supposition and a poor attempt at trying to cover over a sexist remark that many of us believe would never be used towards a white girl child who works in the entertainment industry.

We may never find out who was responsible for this incident. But we have to defend girls and women from all manners of abuse.  

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• No. 1: Don't Call a Nine Year Old A C*nt - The Onion Tightens Twitter Rules After Quvenzhane Wallis Insult
• The Onion Apologizes for Despicable Tweet Calling 9 YO Actress Quvenzhané Wallis The C-Word