The Onion Calls Quvenzhané Wallis The C-Word

The Onion prides itself on it’s satire, but did they go too far when they called a 9-year-old actress the c-word?

During Sunday night’s Oscars, whoever was manning The Onion’s Twitter account caused massive outrage on the social media network after they tweeted that the child actress was a “see you next Tuesday.” Except they said the c-word outright. Immediately the backlash came from hundreds of outraged followers. The tweet was re-tweeted and favorited hundreds of times before ultimately being deleted by The Onion staff.

Today The Onion released a statement apologizing for the rude tweet, saying they have implemented stricter rules for their tweeter(s).

Feb. 25, 2013
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

Personally, I think the tweet was WAY out of line and I’m shocked why anyone would call a 9-year-old the c-word to begin with. (Now, if they would have been talking about Anne Hathaway…)

The Onion’s attempt at being snarky failed miserably, as do many of their “so-and-so should shoot themselves in the head” jokes they constantly publish – just my opinion.

Are YOU offended by the tweet or did you see the humor in it?