Overview
The Onion’s Quvenzhané Wallis Controversy refers to the fallout regarding a tweet published on the official Twitter account for the satirical news organization The Onion, which called the American child actress Quvenzhané Wallis a “cunt.”
Background
On February, 24 2013, during the Academy Awards, the official twitter account for The Onion made a controversial tweet about Academy Award nominee, Quvenzhane Wallis (shown below).
Notable Developments
Negative reaction to the tweet spread quickly on various sites online. Within one hour, the offending tweet was deleted.
The Onion Apologizes
The morning after the incident, The Onion CEO Steve Hannah issued an official apology on The Onion’s Tumblr blog.[1]
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
Search Interest
External Links
[1]tumblr – The Onion Apologizes