‘Grey’s Anatomy’ star receives backlash for using black emojis
While discussing an upcoming series on the KKK from A&E, Ellen Pompeo used black emojis on Twitter, and many in the Twitterverse took offense.
The Grey’s Anatomy star defended her use of the emojis after being called out for overstepping as “a privileged white woman.”
Pompeo, who has played Dr. Meredith Grey on the show since it’s inception, had made her feelings about the new documentary series, “Generation KKK,” well known. She was offended that the network would air such hate on television.
She had originally called for a boycott of the show but was happy with A&E when they changed the name to “Escaping the KKK: A Documentary Series Exposing Hate in America.”
Her tweet thanked the network “for caring enough to make changes.” The message was accompanied by emoji’s of black hands clapping and giving the thumbs up sign.
That is when people attacked.
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One reader claimed that that, “it’s not fair to see a privileged white woman use [ethic] emojis just because you can,” adding, “It comes off as really obnoxious.”
Pompeo quickly hit back with, “Don’t be a hater I do it because racism is not just a black problem it is all of our problem get it???”
That seemed to upset many people even more, but she held her ground and explained why she used the black emojis.
“What’s crazy is how angry everyone is… this is all about emojis people. It was a really positive thing a&e did… now that’s not the focus ..my fault for responding,” she wrote. “But sad to see racism is still alive and well on all sides.”
One user told her that white people can’t experience racism and she shot back, “Ummm I’ve been called a white b—- and countless other things 50000 times today what would you call it?”
Another angry user told her, “SHUT UP, WHITE LADY,” before the actress reminded her followers that her husband Chris Ivery is black and her children are biracial.
“That’s white lady with a black husband and black children to you babe,” she stated, adding, “You do realize…being married to a black man and having black children can make you a target from racist white people right? That’s a thing.”
“I’m not embarrassed and I’m not contradicting myself it’s a very complex issue and one I care about so … I engage,” Pompeo wrote.
This latest Twitter storm came just a couple of days after she called for a boycott of A&E.
“Hey I have an idea…why don’t we all never watch ANYTHING on A&E again who’s with me????” she said at the time, adding, “So I guess A&E stands for …we will try to put Anything and Everything on tv…because we are a bunch of desperate pathetic tv execs.”
A&E responded to her and said that the television show was actually about people leaving the KKK organization. They also pointed out that they had gotten an endorsement from the Anti-Defamation League.
“Okay if that is what it is PLEASE promote it as such…PLEASE,” Pompeo asked.
A&E decided to cancel the show after learning that producers paid some of those being filmed in order to “facilitate access.” It will not air under any title.
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