Gabrielle Union claps back at news channel that ID’s her merely as ‘Dwyane Wade’s wife’
In just a few words, the "Being Mary Jane" star says volumes about being reduced to someone's spouse
Gabrielle Union wasn’t happy when she saw a tweet about her that reduced her to just being her husband’s wife and she didn’t stay silent about it.
On Monday, the outspoken movie star decided to give a Miami television station WSVN a piece of her mind after reading a tweet about her, reminding them to “say her name.”
.@DwyaneWade, wife donates $200,000 to student-ran gun control rally https://t.co/QbVLh5kUXi pic.twitter.com/s6XULzRrQW
— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) March 12, 2018
Dissatisfied with her portrayal as simply a “wife,” Union clapped back:
When they let you know what they think of you. I have a name. https://t.co/EONnNVxCNV
— Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) March 12, 2018
Union didn’t add any additional commentary to the swift snap, but the one-liner highlighted the mistake made in devaluing a woman — or anyone — to the role they play in relation to another person, which many would find sexist.
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According to the South Florida station’s Twitter feed, an apology was issued to Union, and the station reprimanded the writer. The continuing thread tries to provide an explanation in response to angered fans.
You’re right. We have apologized, and will have a word with our writer.
— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) March 12, 2018
We cannot edit a tweet; however, her name is in the headline of our article and we have re-written a tweet that includes her name. We are not deleting the previous one, since we are owning up to our mistake.
— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) March 12, 2018
We did tweet the story again, and included her full name.
— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) March 12, 2018
It could also be because Union’s clabpack tweet has since amassed over 26,000 retweets and nearly 86,000 “likes.”
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The original tweet was a social media post on the station’s coverage of Union and husband Dwayne Wade’s donation of $200,000 to a student gun control rally on Monday.
Union, most recently known for her starring role in BET’s Being Mary Jane, has been outspoken on a variety of women’s issues from sexual assault to equal pay. She released her New York Times bestseller We’re Going to Need More Wine last October.
Moving Forward
Union and Wade recently relocated back to the sunny state after Wade’s trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In the recent March 2018 issue of Redbook magazine, she opened up about her struggle with self-worth.
“I’ve struggled with feelings of worthlessness for a very long time, probably until about last year, even though I had a body of work and I’m pretty accomplished,” Union admitted to the mag.
But she said she has a “happy list” of the good things she has in her world as well as a vision board of the things she’d like to accomplish.
“I’ve been able to look at my boards and say, ‘Damn, I put in a lot of work and deserve it.’ That’s helped me to stop feeling suspicious of joy. To not sabotage something before I’ve had a chance to do it because I assume I’ll be rejected,” she said.
