Rebel Wilson accused of blocking critics of colour over her plus-size rom-com comments

Rebel Wilson is under fresh fire for appearing to block critics of colour who have taken issue with her comments on plus-size rom-coms.

The Australian actress was criticised for claiming she was the first plus-size actress to lead a studio rom-com, when both Queen Latifah and Mo’Nique have led their own in the past.

When several people pointed out how incorrect her statement was on Twitter, Rebel responded to her white critics but blocked several critics of colour, causing the #RebelWilsonBlockedMe hashtag to start trending.

Blocking is when someone prevents specific users from following or viewing their tweets as well as stopping them from contacting them via that particular platform.

Film and pop culture columnist Clarkisha Kent shared her frustration with Yahoo Movies UK about Wilson’s reaction to their criticism compared to that of white critics.

“I’d like to make it known that every Black woman (and others) who was blocked, including myself, was very gracious and took the time to educate her on why she was incorrect and wrong in her erasure of plus-sized icons Queen Latifah and Mo’Nique—though we didn’t need to,” Kent explains.

“Our efforts were met with blocks and subsequent erasure as other white women parroted our words and were met with actual meaningful dialogue.”

Even the producer of BlackKklansman Matthew A. Cherry was blocked.

She did, however, respond to Mo’Nique when the Oscar-winning actress joined the conversation to remind her not to erase black women.

Wilson isn’t the first white actress to be criticised for seemingly erasing women of colour, especially black women, as Rose McGowan, Lena Dunham, and Amy Schumer have all earned backlash for doing something similar.

“I want everyone to remember this when they try to strong arm any marginalised group into educating someone of privilege,” Kent adds. “Most of the time they don’t want that education, period. And civility or a nice tone will not change that.”

The Aussie actress, who shot to fame thanks to the Pitch Perfect franchise, is no doubt hoping this negative backlash won’t affect the release of her new movie Isn’t It Romantic.

She plays a New York City architect Natalie who after a bump on the head discovers her life has become a living romantic comedy and it won’t end until she falls in love.

It was during an interview to promote the film on the Ellen show, that criticism of WIlson began after she said: “I’m proud to be the first-ever plus-sized girl to be the star of a romantic comedy.”

Liam Hemsworth, Priyanka Chopra, and Adam DeVine also star in the rom-com set for release on Valentine’s Day, 2019.

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