Cynthia Erivo talks to Variety about people joking about her being Ariana Grande’s “bodyguard” after she defended her from a red carpet intruder:
Posted by Ok_Rutabaga_5539
Cynthia Erivo talks to Variety about people joking about her being Ariana Grande’s “bodyguard” after she defended her from a red carpet intruder:
Posted by Ok_Rutabaga_5539
20 Comments
she’s absolutely right, but whenever you tried to defend them it was “but they were acting weird”. it’s insane how she was treated because of this situation and i’ll never understand why people were so weirded out that they were emotional about a project they cared about.
She’s right.
The hate they got was so weird. Maybe it may seem odd to people outside, but they literally worked with each other for quite a while and obviously built a friendship. No one ever shames men for being close and goofy with their co-stars.
Of course people perpetuated the “tough, mean, big black woman” stereotype on her too, while Ariana is “white, innocent, and dainty”. Ironic since they’re literally the same height iirc, but either way, still racist.
Time and time again black women are the ones who step up. It wasn’t long after this, at least it feels that way, that the black woman defended Billie from being snatched when walking by fans. She reacted better than Billie’s actual guards. And why are black women seen as strong and capable? Why is Cynthia the one who is seen as strong and capable when she’s no bigger than Ariana? I applaud her for her bravery in that moment and I absolutely understand what she’s saying.
Edit: spelling or predictive text not sure
misogynoir is a word for a reason. more people should learn it especially in the us
I’m sure there are some people who called her Ari’s bodyguard because of her appearance (Black, great arm muscles, bald head). But I would wager that far more people called her Ari’s bodyguard because of her *actions* – she got to Ari before security did, and was fierce and decisive in protecting her friend.
She’s right. She put herself in harm’s way for her friend and was villainized for it.
She’s totally right in any way that matters.
No, not everyone who enjoyed the humor around this stuff was coming from a place of prejudice or microaggression. No, that doesn’t change the fact that these tropes were clearly at play, that microaggressions don’t care about your intentions, and that when they’re being thrown at a highly visible public figure en masse, they stop feeling so “micro” eventually.
Erivo gets a lot of negativity for speaking bluntly on topics like this and it really only strengthens her points.
People start to pull the equivalent of “not all men” when she talks about misogynoir because that’s easier than sitting with the realization that you may have unintentionally played into damaging tropes. The big picture is a systemic racism problem. The reactions when Erivo articulates hard truths are, at least in part, a pride & humility problem.
a lot of the talks around their relationship and friendship was inherently racist, misogynist, and homophobic, it was a run away conversation where everyone felt like they could joke about it
She’s totally right. She came off as being a very good friend (and that Arianna was/is a good friend to her too) but the “bodyguard” thing was gross
Multiple things can be true at once.
1. Black women fight a unique daily battle regarding their personal and perceived relationship to feminity.
2. She already did this with the Wicked poster, which does not necessarily prove this comment one way or the other, BUT…
3. Their (and her) BEHAVIOR was extremely weird. Not their hairstyles, not their physique (if anything, the commentary was hugely centered around their worrisomely tiny frames), but their behavior.
4. A small but vocal group of people will co-opt number 3 to be weird.
If she was a white woman, they would have called her a girl’s girl uwu or whatever nonsense
And she’s right😮💨
She’s absolutely right. I saw so many parodies of the situation, whether drawings, animations, or live skits, where she is made to be this She-Hulk protecting the delicate, tiny flower that is Arianna Grande. I didn’t know what was more insulting: how she was being portrayed or the fact that people were completely ignoring that a man had assaulted a woman.
They were just two theatre kids who became codependent. Happens all the time. The nastiness brought into their friendship wasn’t necessary.
I seriously don’t know what happened to public opinion on Cynthia Erivo the past couple of years. I adore her and think she’s a queen but I saw so much racially charged hate directed at her online, even in spaces that were usually ani racist.
Every tiny little thing she did or said to was cast in the meanest light. Like that perfectly innocent comment she made about seeing colors with sound, and her response to Jennifer Lawrence being silly/goofy that it was blue. People played that up like it was a beef and Lawrence was calling her out on bullshit, when it was a perfectly nice silly little moment.
There was a campaign against her and it wasn’t too different from what happened to her in Wicked. Broke my fucking heart.
I didn’t realize people were criticizing her for it. I thought she was a damn hero
She’s absolutely right. Her reaction to the fanmade wicked poster was so overblown that I think people just decided all bets were off and they could finally go at her and not be scrutinized. Her defending Ariana from that guy was genuinely sweet but it got turned into a meme that centered on her being some sort of obsessive lesbian, and the caricatures were undeniably racist. We aren’t that much different from how we were a handful of decades ago and it’s sad to see it happen so subtly that even seemingly normal ass people participate.
They were portraying her as a bald buff man and Ariana as a dainty little white girl. In videos, drawings, memes, etc. It wasn’t even disguised, it was blatant and obvious misogynoir.
Is she always a victim? Even when she’s badass heroic?