Did The Onion’s Tweet Calling 9-Year-Old Quvenzhané Wallis a “C*nt” Go Too Far?

Feb 25, 2013
12:37 AM

UPDATE: Less than one hour after posting the tweet, the Onion deleted it around 12:40 AM EST.

Yes, we know that The Onion is satire, and it is AMAZING satire, but did it go too far tonight when its Twitter account (with over 4 million followers) posted the following tweet, calling 9-year-old Academy Award nominee Quvenzhané Wallis a “c*nt?” (Yeah, we whited out a screen grab of the original tweet, since we figured that since the joke is directed at a 9-year-old, a little discretion is merited here.)

onion

The response to the tweet has been overwhelmingly negative. Just some recent examples:

“Not funny, guys. Really not funny.”

“REALLY NOT FUNNY AT ALL. Lame, mean and destructive way to try and get RTs. Even less funny that you’re getting them.”

“That is so out of line I don’t even know where to begin. She’s 9. For f-ck’s sake.”

“I’m sick to death of assholery passing as wit and satire. You just called a child a perverse sexualized gendered insult”

“She is a CHILD. I’m so angry I’m vibrating right now.”

“that crossed a line. Get your social media manager some non-douchebag training.”

And it continued. So far, the Onion hasn’t said anything, and we wouldn’t expect it to. But still. We think this is one example of satire that was uncalled for. She’s 9 years old, guys. There is satire, and there is just disgusting comedy. That falls into the disgusting category.