Rachel Hollis, best-selling author of Girl, Wash Your Face and Girl, Stop Apologizing and an MLM sales pitch personified, should maybe wash her shoes because she really stepped in it this weekend. It began when the lifestyle influencer-turned-author-turned-motivational-speaker posted a TikTok describing a (totally real, not at all fake) interaction she had with a user on a live who called her privileged for having a house cleaner.
In a video that is perplexingly still up on her Instagram, Hollis says that in one of her lives, “I mention there’s a sweet woman who comes to my house twice a week and cleans,” and if it weren’t obvious enough what the woman’s role is, Hollis elaborates, “She’s my house cleaner. She cleans the toilets.” When this (totally real, not at all made up as a vehicle for her subsequent bragging) user called her privileged for it, Hollis agreed she is “super freaking privileged”, but also, she says as what’s meant to be a sort of gotcha moment, “I worked my ass off to have the money to have someone come twice a week and clean my toilets.”
Hollis is the NYT best-selling author of the mega-popular self-help book Girl, Wash Your Face. In 2004, 11 years before her first viral Instagram post that launched her into the public sphere, she married Dave Hollis who, at that time, was working as the director of New Business Development for Disney. He would later become Disney’s President of Worldwide Theatrical Distribution before, in 2018, quitting to become the CEO of The Hollis Co.
When, Hollis recounts, the definitely real commenter, running out of steam and looking to throw one last barb in, then replied that Rachel is not relatable, that’s when things took a turn for the even more bizarre. After a condescending laugh, Hollis asks rhetorically, “What is it about me that makes you think I wanna be relatable?” seemingly forgetting about the massive $3 million empire she’s built off of putting forth the idea that her lifestyle is attainable if you simply do pithy things like “wash your face” and “stop apologizing”.
“No, sis,” she continues, “literally everything I do in my life is to live a life that most people can’t relate to. Most people won’t work as hard. Most people won’t get up at 4am” (to do what, she doesn’t say). “Most people won’t fail publicly, again and again, just to reach the top of the mountain. Literally every woman I admire in history was unrelatable.” Then she sneers, “if my life is relatable to most people, I’m doing it wrong.”
If you haven’t cringed all the way back into your mother’s womb yet, Rachel captioned the video, “Harriet Tubman, RBG, Marie Curie, Oprah Winfrey, Amelia Earhart, Frida Khalo, Malala Yousafzai, Wu Zetian… all Unrelatable AF. Happy Women’s History Month!”
The backlash was swift. At first, many commenters took issue with Hollis’s flippant characterization of her house cleaner, reducing her to one of the more demeaning parts of the job. Commenters also expressed displeasure at her assertion that hard work directly translates to wealth—ignoring the fact that many people who do get up at 4am (essential workers, people working two jobs, just to spitball here) are not able to build million-dollar empires.
The tone deafness of the post elicited responses from the likes of Rachel Cargle, Austin Channing Brown, and Luvvie Ajayi. Cargle commented, “She. Cleans Your. Toilets? There is so much here that others have so eloquently addressed but I can’t fathom the root of you addressing your housecleaner as the person who ‘cleans your toilets’.” Others took issue with the fact that she was seemingly comparing herself to women like Harriet Tubman. And then people noticed that comments, especially by BIPOC women—most notably, Brown’s and Cargle’s comments—seemed to have been deleted.
On Sunday, Hollis posted an apology that began cavalierly with, “Someday I’ll learn. Not yet apparently—but someday I’ll learn.” Apparently indeed. In the 10-post Notes App screenshot carousel that followed, Hollis made a point that her intention was not to hurt anyone with the video, but writes that “I own that it was and I apologize.” Again, the video remains up on her Instagram.
She then poses the question, “Was my post upsetting because I said I have someone who cleans my house twice a week?” and then goes on to say, “I have a nanny, I have someone who helps with cleaning, I have a team at work who helps to build this business and I think it’s CRUCIAL that I keep talking about it. I could very easily pretend that I don’t have any assistance.” Perhaps if she’d read the critical comments instead of deleting them, she’d know the post was not upsetting because she said she has someone who cleans her house, but because she described that woman as the person who cleans her toilets, refused to acknowledge her own privilege even while seeming to agree that she is privileged, and appeared to compare herself to the likes of Harriet Tubman.
Regarding the comparisons, she writes, “There is NO comparison. To believe that because I mentioned them, I am comparing myself to them is ludicrous.” To recap, Hollis said she aims to live a life that is unrelatable and then lists out a number of influential women (many being women of color) who were also, as she calls them, “unrelatable”. As an author, one would think Hollis would understand how this can read as an implicit comparison.
Then, after shouting out her “team” for helping her build her business, she blames them for her failure to quickly respond, writing that she didn’t initially respond to the backlash, which started on Friday, because “I listened to my team instead of my gut.” She said it was her team who decided to “monitor comments” and said “certain comments had been muted”—such as Cargle’s and Ajayi’s—when the comments actually appear to have been deleted.
This isn’t the first time Hollis has confused the term “apology” with throwing her team under the bus. In April 2020, Hollis posted a screenshot of one of her tweets to her Instagram reading, “Still… I RISE.” Using such a format could make it appear as though Hollis came up with the quote, when in fact, it’s the title of a famous Maya Angelou poem. Hollis got called out back then, notably by Austin Channing Brown, for plagiarizing Angelou. In her apology post, Hollis wrote, “I heard once that the only real apology was one where you don’t make an excuse, and so I won’t,” only after stating, “While I didn’t create or post the graphic, I am the leader of the team that did and so I accept full responsibility for their actions.”
Hollis had been accused of plagiarism before; in 2019 she was accused of plagiarizing a number of quotes on her IG page, stylizing them in her cute branded font and attributing them to herself, when in fact, most were derived from other inspirational speakers. She self-attributed quotes like, “Every year you close a new chapter in your story. Please…don’t write the same one 75 times and call that a life –Rachel Hollis” (which is very similar to a popular quote by leadership expert Robin Sharma) and “someone else’s opinion of you is none of your business –Rachel Hollis” (which can be traced back to a 1979 self-help book of a very similar title, or even a RuPaul tweet from 2011). It all just has big “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take -Wayne Gretzky -Michael Scott” energy, except at least Michael Scott had the decency to attribute Gretzsky first.
Even as Hollis maintains her 1.7 million Instagram followers, some are becoming disillusioned with her messaging. In June 2020, Hollis and her husband announced they had decided to divorce, an announcement that was shocking, considering the couple was dispensing relationship advice mere weeks prior to the announcement. Rachel wrote she and Dave “worked endlessly over the last three years to make this work and have come to the conclusion that it is healthier and more respectful for us to choose this as the end of our journey as a married couple.” Yet in a March 2020 video published to her Youtube channel entitled, “Rachel Hollis and Dave Hollis Check-In on their Relationship”, the couple discuss their relationship—Rachel says, “Our relationship means something so much bigger today” than it did 18 months prior—with no mention of the struggles they were apparently going through. Dave Hollis’s March 2020 book, Get Out Of Your Own Way, includes an anecdote on how he became a better husband. Many of the commenters on the YouTube video express feeling lied to: “I just have to say that I feel duped by these two,” wrote one commenter. “They sold me the curated version of their lives. So much for being ‘real and authentic’.”
Another group Hollis may have lied to? Multilevel marketing consultants. To briefly circle back to Hollis’s brand basically being an aggressive MLM pitch from the girl who bullied you in high school incarnate, Hollis herself is no stranger to multilevel marketing. She has spoken at a number of events for various network marketing companies, including an Arbonne convention in Vegas in 2019, a Beachbody Coach Summit in 2019 (the company’s largest event of the year, for which she was the keynote speaker), and a 2018 Lularoe leadership conference. In an Instagram post following the success of Girl, Wash Your Face, she specifically thanks MLM consultants for helping the book become so successful: “Thank you for hollering at the other girls on your MLM team to read it!” And yet in her 2020 book, Didn’t See That Coming, she bites the very triangle-shaped hierarchy of hands that fed her. She instructs readers to “figure out a way to make… income that doesn’t cost any money to start.” She continues, “I’m positive someone is going to read this and be inspired to head on over to the internet and ask how she can make extra income and then, four weeks later, her starter kit has arrived for the new at-home business she paid $700 to join. Don’t be dumb!” So it’s dumb, unless you’re instructing your downline to buy her book. Ouch.
So far, Hollis’s latest apology is failing to placate critics. Ajayi wrote underneath the carousel, “Rachel, I’m astounded that you missed the point so hard. I’m actually shocked that 5 days went by and you still don’t understand why what you said was so deeply problematic. If you will invoke my name, at least do the work of understanding why you failed loudly and why you have to take accountability. But here you are blaming your team. This lacks integrity and is shameful.” The rest of the comments aren’t much better. One comment, which has over 8,900 likes, reads, “Why do you always blame your team?? They work for you and are led by you.” Another comment with nearly 6,400 likes reads, “Maybe take a look at the comments from the post because it seems you’re still missing the point(s).”
It’s one thing to stop apologizing needlessly for being assertive and taking up space, as women are conditioned to do; it’s another to fail to take actual accountability. Perhaps Hollis needs to stop taking her own advice and start apologizing.
Image: Jim Spellman/WireImage
NEW YORK—A puff of blue dream smoke lifts from the fire escape and onto the Brooklyn street as Ann-Marie, a micro-influencer and Depop shop proprietor, takes her final morning hit. “I try to do this at least every morning to keep myself grounded. I looove the open NYC air.” She sighs with the carefree relief of a person who has never had to think about mandatory minimums, except when she’s had to buy two drinks at a comedy club.
Jacelyn, 36, a microdosing micro-influencer who is still devastated she couldn’t vote for Michael Bloomberg, takes a five-minute work break to dab from her sherbet pen in the middle of East 42nd. “This way I don’t smell during meetings,” she says, as a young Latinx man who was in the same room as weed smoke two weeks ago is searched on the sidewalk below.
“That’s what I love about New York—nobody cares here. My dealer once met me in front of an elementary school and he told me all about his canna-business while a divorcee pushed her kid on the swing.”
Ann-Marie considers pivoting her brand. “Weedfluencers are getting more potent than this virile flower,” she says, as she shakes her fraying J. She takes a snap of her morning sesh for her more than 20,000 Insta followers before rolling up the last of her bud, accidentally flaking some northern lights morsels onto the sidewalk below, just as an NYPD van pulls up in front of her local bodega. She winces at the lost bud.
Ann-Marie shrugs and climbs back into her apartment, her feet landing on a bright pink weed bathmat from Victoria’s Secret. A haze of grinder fluff encases every surface of her place. She puts the last of her morning toke on her “stash patch,” a soggy wooden coffee table covered in crusty bongs, rusting joint ends, and a variety of half-smoked ounce bags of saturated bud. Each piece, including the “live laugh bud” plywood, would make for the NYPD’s quickest search and seizure, although it’s never crossed her mind.
When a push notification on her iPhone informs her that the state of New York has officially legalized adult use recreational cannabis, Ann-Marie excitedly opens her group chat.
“This is going to make our lives sooo much easier,” she texts her friends. “I was so tired of hiding blunts in my bra in the security line at Coachella.”
Riding a confident sativa buzz, she asks me: “I can’t with the Slack at my job right now. Do you think I could work at the White House?”
Images: Daniel Monteiro / Unsplash
Look, it’s a weird time for everyone right now. With the coronavirus pandemic in full force, we’re all practicing social distancing as much as possible, and it can take a mental toll, making it hard to remember who’s really suffering the most here: celebrities and influencers. Guys, I’m worried for them. The average famous person’s content is approximately 85% pictures of them looking hot in various locations, and right now just isn’t the time. So while the last few days have been a stressful time in the world, it’s been kind of incredible to watch everyone from Real Housewives to A-list celebs scramble to figure out wtf they’re supposed to be saying right now.
Many celebs have done a great job encouraging their fans to make smart choices (Ariana Grande) or kept the mood light (Courteney Cox’s TikTok is lit), but some have stumbled in the past few days, for various reasons. As we enter a self-isolation period for the next couple weeks (at least), I have a feeling the content will only get more deranged. Here are a selection of the most cringeworthy celebrity coronavirus posts I’ve come across.
Evangeline Lilly
As this week has gone on, it really seemed like pretty much everyone had gotten the memo about social distancing. But while most of us have been limiting our outside-the-apartment time to quick walks and grocery runs, apparently some celebs aren’t so into it. On Tuesday, Evangeline Lilly (star of Lost and The Hobbit) posted on Instagram that she had just dropped her kids off at gymnastics camp, pointing out that they washed their hands first. She hashtagged “business as usual”, which is honestly just an asshole move at this point. Like, no, this isn’t business as usual. Millions of people have lost their jobs, the economy is crashing, and people are DYING. Not cute.
Jameela Jamil
Jameela Jamil never met an issue she didn’t have a take on, and coronavirus is obviously no different. In this tweet, which has since been deleted, she pondered whether this GLOBAL PANDEMIC is just a “clap back from Mother Nature” for like, ruining the planet. Okay, woof. Is climate change a global crisis that we all need to be worried about? Absolutely. But coronavirus is a totally separate issue, and I’m pretty sure Jameela knows that. But yeah, Mother Nature is gonna f*ck us all up—you heard it here first!
Whitney Port
Feeling stressed about corona? Same girl! Luckily, you can check out pics of Whitney Port’s bathroom! Thank god for this, I’m totally not stressed anymore. Like I said before, this is going to be a weird time for influencers to know what to do with their normal, self-centered content, and this is maybe not the way to do it. This whole post has big “Kim, there’s people that are dying” energy.
Katy Perry
Italy has seriously been hurting lately, and some heartwarming videos of Italians singing together from their windows went viral. It’s a beautiful show of strength in a desperate time—but they weren’t singing Katy Perry. The singing video quickly became a meme, with Twitter users dubbing it with everything from Nicki Minaj to Real Housewives fights. Katy Perry didn’t get the meme memo, and shared a fan-made video of “Roar”, thinking it was real. To make matters worse, she used the Hungarian flag instead of the Italian one. A swing and a miss. Needless to say, this tweet was deleted.
Joe Giudice
Speaking of Italy, we have boots on the ground thanks to one Joe Giudice. He’s been living there since ICE deported him last year, but as the country went on lockdown last week, he didn’t really seem to get what was going on. In a truly wild Instagram caption, he claimed that “More people die from Viagra (heart attacks and drug overdose)” than coronavirus, and that he won’t be put on lockdown ever again. From his subsequent posts, it seems like he might be taking things a bit more seriously, but I don’t love how much time he’s spending outside. Joe—go inside!!!
Scheana Shay
Yes, meaning I’m not going to isolate myself inside alone for weeks. I’m sorry. It’s not going to happen and anyone who follows me will see that. I pray this virus passes soon and we can all go back to living our best lives. On that note, goodbye for now twitter 🌍 https://t.co/HTs3LMtkM5
— 🏳️🌈Scheana (@scheana) March 14, 2020
We’re all learning through this crisis, and at least some people have owned their mistakes. On Saturday, Vanderpump Rules star Scheana Shay posted a series of tweets in which she mocked people staying at home. She got dragged in her replies, and luckily she figured out that she had f*cked up. In later tweets, she said that she had just gotten home from a work trip, and hadn’t been following the progression of the crisis. She made it clear that she “now understands the severity of our current predicament,” which like, good. Scheana is carrying Pump Rules on her back right now, so we can’t have anything happening to her.
Kelly Bensimon
Wrapping up our Bravo portion, we must talk about Kelly Bensimon. The former RHONY star has been on a real journey over the past few days, and it might be the best thing that’s happened this week. A few days ago, Kelly posted that she would be taking a break from social media “in light of the present state.” That’s all well and good, but then she ended the post with the hashtag #socialdistancing. Wait, does Kelly think that social distancing is about Instagram?
But it looks like someone clued her in, because she’s back on the ‘gram already! The very next day, Kelly posted the world’s blurriest selfie, wearing a mask on an airplane (double yikes), saying that she “made a mistake and have made a decision to be in this with you.” Lmao, a queen. To be honest, I can’t get over this photo—the deadness in her eyes is something I feel on a deep level right now. Let’s keep checking on Kelly to make sure she doesn’t lose her sh*t.
Laura Osnes
Broadway’s Laura Osnes is offering what she describes as a “CoronaClearance” and lowering her Cameo fee from $75 to $50.
🥴🥴🥴 pic.twitter.com/dzGXvxfZ1X
— Ξvan Ross Katz (@evanrosskatz) March 15, 2020
Broadway stars can be messy too! Yesterday, Tony-nominated actress Laura Osnes announced that she would temporarily be lowering the price on her Cameo account, as a special “corona clearance” for her fans. I am… speechless. KIM, THERE’S PEOPLE THAT ARE DYING. I totally get that she needs to pay her bills, but so do the thousands of theatre workers that are going to be out of work for weeks, if not months. These people don’t need to be spending their money on a discounted Cameo right now, sorry Laura.
Clearly, the celebrities are not doing amazing right now, and things are only going to get weirder. Stay sane out there, and remember that we’re all staying inside for a reason.
Images: jameelajamil, katyperry, scheana, evanrosskatz / Twitter; whitneyeveport, Joe.giudice, kellybensimon / Instagram
Well, the inevitable has happened. As I write this, upwards of 100 universities and colleges have closed nationwide, including my own school, Tulane University. Due to my lack of ability to process emotions, I will be treating this horrible news the same way our government is handling Covid-19: by totally ignoring it until it is way too late and the situation grows beyond our capacity to control it.
Well, I am here reporting live from Tulane less than 48 hours after our school closed to share a little bit about what’s happening down here.
The Initial Shock
Over the past week, professors have been preparing for the potential move to online classes. Still, it wasn’t until late afternoon when the school made the announcement. Since we got this news, all hell has broken loose. Seriously, as my roommate said while we were drinking away our stress last night: “this is literally Apocalypse Now.”
My friend and I were walking past a bar near campus on our way to the gym like the #fitbitches we are when the email got sent out, and we heard a collective cheer. As we continued walking across campus, almost every single student we saw was on their phone, probably with their parents freaking out about their non-refundable Cabo spring break flights.
On the way back from the gym, again, because Corona can’t stop the grind, the crowd outside the bar tripled in size.
So, Do We Leave?
We were told that on-campus residents had a week to pack up their stuff and be out of their dorms. While some colleges (*cough* Harvard *cough*) are kicking students off-campus with no consideration of potential unsafe family situations or homelessness, Tulane has offered to find alternative solutions for students who cannot leave school for whatever reason. Note: “I don’t want to be around my family because they’re going to ask me about my job prospects” does not count… but thanks for trying!
For juniors and seniors, most of us are deciding whether we should stay in New Orleans or leave. Even though some people literally couldn’t get out of here fast enough, most of my friends are taking our sweet time and treating this like an extended spring break. Seriously, if I’m going to be stuck somewhere, I’d much rather be in New Orleans than f*cking Ohio.
A large portion of Tulane’s student body is from California and New York and other areas that are impacted by the virus. I am from Cleveland, which has recently started confirming more and more cases, so I’m in no rush to get on a flying germ tube plane.
What About School?
Obviously, classes are everyone’s biggest concern. Seniors especially are worried about their graduation time being affected by the closure, and most of the people I know share similar worries. However, at most schools, classes are moving to online platforms like Zoom.
I don’t know anything about stocks, and I’m pretty sure the market is doing, like, really badly. Still, I’d def consider buying stock in Zoom because the whole country is about to start using it. Zoom is fine aside from the people who forget to mute themselves and say dumb sh*t into their mics or the frat boys who keep their cameras on and are clearly not wearing pants/drinking a F*CKING CORONA BEER ON CAMERA. Chad in my Stat lab, I’m talking about you.
The issue with this technology that many people are concerned about (aside from the fact that I’m too dumb to figure out time zones) is that not all people have laptops or WIFI at home. While technology is a given on college campuses thanks to libraries and university-wide WIFI, this sadly isn’t universal outside of academic spaces. So once again, students from disadvantaged backgrounds are going to be hit harder by the cancelations.
To cite my roommate one more time: “my mom isn’t really concerned about anything other than me remaining ‘diligent’ about online classes.” Obviously, she will continue being the star student she always is and will never ever even think about skipping a (zoom) class.
Now That People Are ~Starting~ To Calm Down
Of course, it’s tough to be logical and rational in times like these. As we know, because we aren’t totally stupid, the only thing freaking out does is add to hysteria and make literally every situation worse. I’m not saying that my initial reaction wasn’t to be upset because I was, like, just asked to a frat formal and bought a dress. I’m also not not saying that. (LOL: he’s going to read this for sure. What’s up, dude?)
Yeah—it’s a bummer that I won’t get to wear the pink bodycon dress I bought for formal, but my health (and the health of others) is clearly more important than how good I was going to look. Once we got past the initial hysteria/excitement/urge to get drunk, it became clear that this obviously was for the best for the school as a whole.
In the past 24 hours, things have somewhat calmed down, but the energy on campus is mad weird. In all honestly, this is a great way to figure out who loves school. All of the freshmen posting Instagram slides about leaving may be annoying, but it’s kinda cute that they love their friends and school so much.
The sophomores are really struggling. Tulane is a big “go abroad in the fall” school, and many of the sophomores don’t know the next time they’ll see their BFFs, or if they’ll be able to go abroad at all. My heart honestly goes out to all of the 19-year-old girls whose senior boyfriends are breaking up with them now instead of in May. At least they’re saving themselves from aging 10 years while they stress about his shady behavior over spring break.
But the seniors have it the worst. The campus has been filled with girls taking selfies of them crying about their last ever college class, and like, I feel for them! There’s a lot of uncertainty, and they’re losing their senior spring. Thank f*ck that’s not me.
As a junior, I’m pretty much chilling for as long as I can avoid going home.
In all seriousness, I’m so lucky to go to a school that is handling this sh*t relatively well and that I have a home to go back to when things starts getting really bad. Until then, we are trying to stay as safe and blackout as possible. And, as a reminder, I promise, those gross frat houses are waiting for everyone come syllabus week in the fall.
Images: Scott Webb / Instagram; offcampus / Instagram (2)
UPDATE: Over the past few weeks, the global spread of COVID-19 has affected nearly everything about our society. A few weeks ago, we were mostly going about our business, but then everything changed. As health concerns escalated, the cancelations started pouring in. With large gatherings outlawed and entire cities and states under shelter in place orders, pretty much everything in March and April has been put on hold.
But now, as we move forward, major events later in the spring and into the summer are having to face tough decisions about whether they should cancel or postpone. It’s a tough balance between taking the necessary precautions, and trying to maintain things as normally as possible. Here are some of the biggest cancelation updates since the initial wave a few weeks ago.
The Olympics
Before the impact of coronavirus was really felt in the US, there was already speculation that this year’s Summer Olympics could be affected. This week, those fears became reality, as the International Olympic Committee announced that the Tokyo 2020 Games will be postponed to 2021. Obviously travel and crowd concerns were a major factor, but the Olympic qualification process for many sports has been disrupted by all the cancelations this spring. Exact dates for Tokyo 2021 haven’t been announced yet, but the organizers say they will be no later than summer.
The Met Gala
The first Monday in May will be a lot less fashionable this year. The annual A-list gala is held at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is currently closed until further notice. This left the gala organizers no choice but to postpone, and there hasn’t been a new date announced. This year’s theme is “About Time,” and now all our favorite fashionable celebs will have a little more ~time~ to work on their looks. Whenever the Met Gala does happen, I expect perfection.
More Festivals
The first wave of spring festivals, like Ultra and Coachella, were quick to announce postponements or cancelations, but now the disruptions are pushing further and further into festival season. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (aka JazzFest), was pushed from late April to the fall. May’s Lovers & Friends Festival, which we were already skeptical about, has been pushed to August and reduced to a single day. And New York City’s Governor’s Ball, normally held in early June, is canceled altogether after efforts to find a new date fell through. Basically, if you have festival plans any time in the next couple months, don’t be too confident that those won’t be messed up.
Music festivals aren’t the only ones being affected. The Cannes Film Festival, normally held in May, has announced an indefinite postponement, along with an extension of deadlines for film submissions. But while the organizers say they are hoping for a “deferred event,” they’ve acknowledged that the final result might be a full cancelation. The calendar for rescheduled events is going to be pretty packed later this year, and there might not be room for everything.
The Tony Awards
As of right now, all Broadway theaters are closed until April 13th. It seems likely that the closure will be extended, but either way, the Broadway season is basically f*cked. The deadline for shows to open in order to be Tony-eligible is in late April, meaning that many new shows were set to open in March and April. With that in mind, it only made sense for the Tonys, usually in early June, to be pushed to later in the year. Surely the eligibility deadlines will be adjusted, and hopefully the damage can be minimized.
But much damage has already been done, and some shows won’t recover. Two shows set to open during this period have announced that they won’t open at all, and multiple other planned spring openings have been pushed to the fall. New shows on Broadway are already financially precarious under normal circumstances, so the effects of the pandemic could be especially drastic here.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: When it comes to the global spread of COVID-19, this week has felt like a major tipping point. At this point, coronavirus is a pandemic, confirmed cases are pretty much everywhere, and more and more major events are being affected every day. With all the cancelations, postponements, and other updates, It’s basically impossible to keep up with every coronavirus development, but what else are we supposed to talk about right now? Here are some of the major things that have been canceled because of coronavirus so far.
Cruises
I’m not trying to go on a cruise even when there’s not a pandemic, but yeah, now seems like an especially bad time. Last month, passengers on the cruise ship Diamond Princess were quarantined off the coast of Japan for two weeks, and by the time they disembarked, over 600 passengers had been infected. This is easily my biggest nightmare. Other cruise ships have been affected in recent weeks, and this week, companies are starting to pull the plug. In the past two days, Princess Cruises announced a 60-day shutdown, and Viking Cruises announced it will suspend operations until April 30th. These are the first two major cruise companies to shut down due to the outbreak, but I can’t imagine they’ll be the last.
Sporting Events
NBA To Suspend Season Following Tonight's Games pic.twitter.com/2PTx2fkLlW
— NBA (@NBA) March 12, 2020
This week has basically been a domino effect in the sporting world. On Sunday night, the BNP Paribas Open, one of the world’s largest tennis tournaments, was canceled just hours before it was scheduled to begin outside of Palm Springs. On Monday, the Italian government shut down all sports, including the top-tier Serie A football league, which had already been playing without fans present, until at least early April. On Wednesday, it was announced that the World Figure Skating Championships, scheduled for next week in Montreal, will not be held. Last night came perhaps the biggest announcement yet—that the NBA will suspend its season “until further notice” after Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert tested positive for coronavirus.
On Thursday, the high-profile cancelations kept rolling in. Early in the day, the ATP—the governing body for men’s tennis—announced an historic six-week suspension of their season, immediately canceling upcoming tournaments on four different continents. Soon after, the NHL and MLB both followed the NBA’s lead, suspending their seasons. Major League Baseball is currently in spring training, and those games will be canceled. The start of the regular season, usually in early April, will be postponed until further notice.
At the moment, some other sporting events are pressing on, but not without some major restrictions in place. On Wednesday, the NCAA announced that the 2020 March Madness tournament will be played with no fans present, an unprecedented decision meant to fight the spread of the virus. The tournament is scheduled to begin next week, so it remains to be seen whether this decision will hold up, but obviously there’s a lot of money on the line with large-scale events like this. It’s a strange time to be a sports fan, and no doubt more events will be affected before things get back to normal.
Schools
For many of us, it’s not a big deal to work from home for a couple weeks. But with growing health concerns, schools are being forced to grapple with how to take things remote. Many colleges and universities have announced this week that classes will be held online—some for the remainder of the semester. Along with these decisions, many schools are forcing students to move out of their on-campus housing and return home within the next few days. For some schools that are currently on spring break, students won’t even be allowed to return to campus to get their things until an unspecified later date. All I can say is I’m glad I’m not still in college, because I would be having a full-blown nervous breakdown.
Festivals & Concerts
As we all know by now, Coachella and Stagecoach have been postponed until October. Other than the fact that they won’t be able to provide storylines for Bachelor In Paradise, at least they’re still happening. Other festivals haven’t been so lucky, and have been forced to cancel altogether. Miami’s Ultra and Calle Ocho festivals were the first major cancelations, followed by Austin’s SXSW. Those are the biggest festivals that have been affected so far, but depending on the situation in the coming weeks, many more festivals in the spring and early summer could be at risk.
In the more immediate timeframe, countless artists have canceled or postponed tour dates because of coronavirus concerns. Avril Lavigne was forced to cancel an entire Asian tour, and Madonna axed her planned shows in Paris after limitations were placed on large public gatherings. Other artists who have canceled shows include BTS, Cher, and Mariah Carey, but the list is only getting longer.
TV Shows
(SPOILER): I’m sure ABC will make it official soon, but “Summer Games” I’m hearing is cancelled due to the coronavirus. With international contestants on the show, it’s too risky and they don’t want to take a chance.
— RealitySteve (@RealitySteve) March 11, 2020
Nothing is safe at this point—not even our precious Bachelor shows. Reality Steve reported on Wednesday afternoon that The Bachelor Summer Games will be canceled because of the pandemic, with an official announcement expected soon. This makes sense, considering that the show involves contestants traveling from other countries, and with the new European travel ban, who knows if they’ll even be allowed in the country. Honestly, I don’t know if people will be so sad about this, but it’ll be a different story if Paradise gets messed up. ABC, we need this now more than ever.
Numerous other shows have also been affected, including Riverdale, which halted production this week over fears that someone working on the show was exposed to coronavirus. Additionally, Survivor and The Amazing Race have both announced production will be delayed due to travel concerns for their cast and crew. On top of this, many talk shows are taping without studio audiences for the near future, including The View, Wendy Williams, and Today. That could just be the tip of the iceberg in terms of the effects on the entertainment industry, but it’s too soon to know.
St. Patrick’s Day
Depending on where you’re at in life, this will either be devastating, or something you never would have even thought about. On Wednesday, the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade was officially postponed to an unspecified later date. I’m not sure anyone will care about St. Patrick’s day in June, but whatever, canceling is tough. This decision came after Ireland shut down its St. Patrick’s Day festivities, and Boston did the same. I guess you can still go to the bar and drink Guinness if you want, but the vibe is definitely going to be different this year.
Nightlife
You know sh*t is really getting serious when Miami nightclubs are shutting down. Today, it was announced that LIV and Story will be “temporarily pausing operations” until the situation is under control. Also today, the mayor of Jersey City announced that the city will implement a 10pm curfew at bars and nightclubs, because we all know you can’t get sick before 10pm. Whatever, I don’t make the decisions here.
There are more and more coronavirus-related updates happening literally every minute, so it’s tough to keep track of what’s going on, but hopefully this helped. Obviously, things are changing quickly, and all we can do is try to stay safe and make smart choices. Wash your f*cking hands!
Images: Artem Pachkovskyi/Shutterstock
Ah, Jameela Jamil. Talented actress, champion of body positivity, and prolific tweeter. Jameela does important work helping to tear down the norms of problematic diet culture and harmful social media wellness practices, but she also has a habit of putting her foot in her mouth on social media. Over the last 24 hours, she’s been in a heated Twitter back-and-forth with Victoria’s Secret model Sara Sampaio, and it’s all one big mess. Tempers are high, things are getting condescending, and I’m not sure anyone is completely in the right, tbh. Let’s try to make sense of this, shall we?
A few days ago, Jameela Jamil reposted a video of a runway show in which several women are walking barefoot, dancing together, and generally just having a good time. No one in the video is super skinny, and Jameela took note. She said the show looked fun, then added “not a long-starved terrified teenager in sight.”
Oh my god 😍😍😍 this looks like the most fun, and not a long-starved terrified teenager in sight. Beautiful. https://t.co/hck5n6e9Xu
— Jameela Jamil 🌈 (@jameelajamil) October 13, 2019
And in the least shocking turn of events, this offended some people, namely models, namely Sara Sampaio. Sara is a Portuguese model who has worked with Victoria’s Secret since 2013. She criticized Jameela’s description of models as “extremely offensive,” and called her a hypocrite for going against her usual message of body positivity.
How about celebrating someone without bringing other people down? Calling runway models “long-starved terrified teenager” is extremely offensive. From someone that is always preaching for body positivity this just screams hypocrisy. https://t.co/JOBtY0yrui
— Sara Sampaio (@SaraSampaio) October 16, 2019
As we saw last week with the George W. Bush drama, Jameela Jamil isn’t one to back down from criticism on Twitter, and this was no exception. She clarified that she wasn’t referring to all models, and clarified that a “*vast* majority” of young models have issues with drugs and/or eating disorders. She also said that Sampaio should “try to calm down.” *Cringe emoji*
On the one hand, while I understand Sampaio’s argument that Jameela Jamil could have just celebrated the video without bringing anything negative into the narrative, that’s not really Jameela’s style. Her whole thing is calling out issues in beauty standards, and the fashion industry has long played into and profited from these toxic ideals. On the other hand, telling Sara Sampaio to “try to calm down” is extremely condescending, and it doesn’t make Jameela Jamil’s argument any stronger.
I also don’t preach “body positivity.” I talk about moving away from all talk of body, in order to combat our current pervasive issue of eating disorder culture, which is in NO small way perpetuated by the extreme thinness demanded of girls by the high fashion powers that be.
— Jameela Jamil 🌈 (@jameelajamil) October 16, 2019
After those first couple tweets, it was basically a free-for-all between Sara and Jameela, with each tweeting and responding with blocks of text every couple minutes. It’s really not important to read every single tweet, or analyze every word, because it’s not that complicated. Sara Sampaio obviously feels strongly about not making disparaging generalizations about models, and Jameela Jamil doesn’t give a sh*t about making the fashion industry look bad.
Sampaio talked about how eating disorders and drug use are a problem in society as a whole, not only in the modeling business, and that these problems don’t actually affect a “vast majority” of models (k, I’m gonna need a citation on that), like Jameela suggested.
You didn’t say all models, sure, but you still chose to attack girls just so you can celebrate others. Eating disorders, drugs and cocaine use aren’t a exclusive problem of models, it’s a huge problem is society as a whole. And when you talk like you know for sure majority of https://t.co/4hAIf379WP
— Sara Sampaio (@SaraSampaio) October 16, 2019
Sara also clarified that the only intention of her original tweet was to call out Jameela Jamil’s negativity: “I never said there wasn’t a problem with the industry, so don’t go around and put words in my mouth.” Honestly, this drama is more intense than 80% of Real Housewives feuds, which is saying something. Jameela Jamil then told Sara not to “police how I choose to celebrate something or call out something problematic,” before adding that her words “aren’t cute, or easy, or inoffensive.”
Okay, so while I agree with Jameela that we don’t have to be polite when trying to affect change in the world, that’s not the same thing as demanding a free pass to offend whoever you want along the way. Sara’s not trying to say that Jameela should stop doing this kind of work, just that this specific tweet could have stayed on a positive note instead of slamming a whole group of people for basically no reason.
Don’t police how I choose to celebrate something or call out something problematic. I was celebrating that it’s a refreshing change, compared to the toxic fashion show norm. I’m an activist. My words aren’t cute, or easy, or inoffensive. Change doesn’t come from being polite. https://t.co/NqvfwTeixP
— Jameela Jamil 🌈 (@jameelajamil) October 16, 2019
So all of that (and more that I didn’t embed because it was just too much) happened on Tuesday night, ending at around 1opm. But that’s not the end!! Jameel Jamil fired up her Twitter machine once again this morning, going all the way back to Sara’s original response to her tweet. Girl, at this point, the horse is dead. Stop beating it.
Also @SaraSampaio , you MIDUNDERSTOOD the tweet in the first place… it was Not taking aim at *kids* for being starved and afraid. It’s definitely not *their* fault. Who on EARTH would blame children? it was taking aim at this (unbelievably fucked) industry. Which is RIGHT to do https://t.co/K3DkuRmIG7
— Jameela Jamil 🌈 (@jameelajamil) October 16, 2019
After all of what happened on Tuesday night, Jameela claimed that Sara didn’t even understand the intent of her tweet in the first place. After all of that!!!! Jameela, I’m not gonna tell you how to live your life, but if someone misunderstands your point, perhaps try letting them know in the first response, rather than 10 rounds of petty tweets later. She said that her tweet wasn’t taking aim at the starved teenagers, but actually the fashion industry as a whole.
By this point, it doesn’t really matter, but Sara did criticize Jameela for “attacking girls,” so she can correct her if she wants. But Sara also understandably called out Jameela this morning for her “constant condescending tone” when responding to her, and told her to have a nice life. Wowwww, this is so petty, and I love it.
This is the last I’ll say on this. Your constant condescending tone is just unnecessary, and makes it impossible to actual have a conversation. Hope you have a nice life. Wish you all the best.
— Sara Sampaio (@SaraSampaio) October 16, 2019
Despite Sara’s best efforts to shut the feud down, Jameela wasn’t done, and she followed this up with her most personal attack yet. She fully went for the jugular, saying that Sara works “for a transphobic, fat phobic company,” and that she should check herself “before you start policing me for calling out an industry wide epidemic of harm to young girls.”
You also proudly work for a transphobic, fat phobic company @SaraSampaio . Victoria’s Secret is a brand that sets out to exclude most women, so I would check yourself on that before you start policing me for calling out an industry wide epidemic of harm to young girls. https://t.co/e8HKFPQ71X
— Jameela Jamil 🌈 (@jameelajamil) October 16, 2019
Honestly, this one left me speechless. Up until this point, the argument had stayed pretty squarely focused on the issue at hand. They can debate Jameela’s message on the tweet as much as they want, but Jameela really took it to a new level by attacking the job that has, by far, been the defining part of Sara’s career. And, I mean, she is not wrong…
If you’re speaking out against what your company did then GREAT. I look forward to seeing your activism on that with your big profile. You seem passionate about speaking out. So best of luck to you on helping young girls and trans people in this business. ❤️ https://t.co/UdQNCJrtb6
— Jameela Jamil 🌈 (@jameelajamil) October 16, 2019
Despite saying she was done with the feud, Sara couldn’t ignore Jameela’s attack on her career, and came back for one last tweet, in which she acknowledged Victoria’s Secret’s mistakes, and said that they’ve “been working on changing that.” She made one more dig at Jameela, saying that she’s made big mistakes in the “pass” too, but then said that she’s not going to turn to “personal attacks to try to win some stupid twitter feud.”
Oh my god, you guys, I am so tired. Honestly, it’s comical that these two women got so involved over something that started with a dumb tweet about a fashion show that was meant to be positive, but that’s just the world we live in. I now know way more about Sara Sampaio than I ever intended to, and honestly, she’s pretty great at being petty on Twitter, so I kinda like her. Between Jameela’s relentless dedication to her causes and Sara’s unwillingness to back down, this was unknowingly a matchup for the ages.
Images: Shutterstock; jameelajamil (6), sarasampaio (3) / Twitter
Yesterday started out just like any other mediocre American Tuesday. Birds were singing, politicians were tweeting, and millennials around the country were trying to find jobs that would help them pay off their thousands of dollars in student loan debt while simultaneously not making them want to die (aka: the dream).
So, naturally, when 24-year-old Emily Clow went to apply for a Marketing Coordinator position with the company, Kickass Masterminds, she didn’t exactly have the highest of hopes. I mean, this is 2019. People with their masters are working at The Gap and as the great Pam Beesly once said, “I applied to Old Navy, Target and Wal-mart. None of ’em called me back. Not even for an interview.”
Things are pretty bleak in the ol’ job market for us.
Clow’s mentality? Best case, she’d get a neat job with what appeared to be a cool, female-forward company in the general direction she was hoping to take her career. Worst case? She’d never hear back from them and will have wasted a few minutes of her life by applying via the Indeed easy application service.
OR SO SHE THOUGHT *bum bum bum*!!!!!!!!!!!
After applying on Indeed around 9:40am, Clow was sent a link with the second part of the application asking about her marketing background, how she would describe herself, to tell a story proving her “grit and toughness,” etc. etc. etc. Usual HR bs to weed out the weirdos. This is where things take a turn for the ~scandalous.~
According to Clow, just after submitting the second half of her application, a message appeared saying that “following their Instagram gives applicants an advantage over other applicants.”
And because our girl gets after it, she gave the company a follow around 11:15am. She scrolled through its posts. She checked out its audience. And then, she clicked on its stories.
There, posted for the company’s followers, interested candidates, and quite literally anyone else with internet access to see, was a bikini photo taken from Emily Clow’s very own Instagram that was posted in JUNE. And because words will never do justice to just how f*cked up this post was, I’ll allow you to see for yourself:
@kickassmasterm pic.twitter.com/rhVUhMTsZg
— Emily Clow (@emilyeclow) October 1, 2019
Ho-ly f*ck, right?
“I was shocked to see an employer I was intrigued by and hoping to at least interview with would shame me so publicly through their company Instagram,” said Clow. “It took me a while to read the captions of the story fully.”
And once she did? Things didn’t really get better. I mean, imagine seeing one of your (warranted and acceptable, albeit envy-inducing) like-trap swimsuit photos being literally blasted around the internet saying “this is how you don’t get jobs.” F*cked up, right?
“It made me feel as if they were judging my bikini pics and comparing it to my work ethic, which they hadn’t even discussed with me or past employers with at this time.”
THEY DIDN’T EVEN TALK TO HER CONTACTS. They just saw her hot-ass profile and were like “nope, this girl posts pictures in her swimsuit. In 2019. Let’s shame the sh*t out of her for being hot? Being confident? Understanding the market of her followers? Instead of just casually rejecting her resume without making a fuss (which is still, of course, f*cked up).”
The craziest part? Clow wasn’t even following them yet when they posted the picture. She didn’t send her Facebook with her resume (because she’s not a mom with cats and attachment issues), and she didn’t even send a f*cking headshot, which is something I guess hot people do sometimes for influencer and brand ambassador positions. She straight up just sent her resume and got this nonsense. And at first? The shaming worked.
“I sat on the decision to reach out for a bit, but I did eventually stating how I had archived the picture,” which is now, thankfully, back. Because a picture that good does not belong hidden in archives because some assholes made you feel falsely inferior, “along with an ‘I appreciate the advice’ message.”
Ready for it guys? Ready? READY? It’s so good. Here’s the response she got:
“I sent an email shortly after my first DM to the company saying how I recently applied to the Marketing Coordinator position. I attached my resume and cover letter for their convenience, acknowledged that they were going through applications, and said how I hoped to hear from them soon in regard to the position. At the end of the email, I stated, ‘PS — Please take down the picture of me from your Instagram story. Thank you for understanding.’”
Even at THIS point, Clow is being gracious despite the fact that this is some mean girl sh*t if I’ve ever seen it. Wanna guess how the company responded?
“The company blocked me after they replied ‘Best of luck,’ on Instagram.”
They blocked her. This “marketing” (I put it in quotes because this is the silliest example of marketing I’ve ever seen) “company” (I put this in quotes because I’m on the edge of my seat to see if this will still even be a company by the time this piece publishes) blocked an applicant who politely asked them to take down a harassing photo of her that she didn’t give permission for them to use.
Whew! What is this? The marketing team of Caroline Calloway? Kidding, they would never make a mistake like this. Anyway, I digress. At this point, Clow is starting to get rightfully upset. I would have f*cking burned sh*t down by now, but she’s been handling this straight-up sexual harassment with a patience and inner zen that I have never known.
So, after the company put her on blast for no reason, blocked her, AND shamed her, she decided it was time to turn the tables juuuuuust a little bit.
“I posted a personal story tagging the company and calling out their behavior on my personal Instagram and Twitter after they blocked me.”
Now, before we move forward, I need to tell you all a secret: I know Emily Clow. I’ve worked with Emily Clow. I’ve hung out with Emily Clow. And I get the whole “how can girls be hot and also smart, driven, AND cool” jealousy that exists, but the thing is? Emily Clow is one down-to-Earth bitch. I hate everyone and trust me, I tried. But she’s kinda the full package. So, knowing this, I was outraged (and now officially invested).
So, just after posting to Twitter and getting a HEAP of responses (yet still no response from Kickass Masterminds and STILL no removal of her photo), Clow decided to send screenshots to @sheratesdogs around 1:30pm in the hopes that a large account could help get her photo down. Less than an hour later, @sheratesdogs posted the story.
This girl applied for an internship at a company, and they put up this screenshot of her in a bikini on their company Instagram, publicly telling everybody they wouldn’t hire her because of this photo. pic.twitter.com/aRQF7CqfSF
— SheRatesDogs (@SheRatesDogs) October 1, 2019
Less than two hours later, Kickass Masterminds’ Instagram went private (not to mention the photo was deleted without comment), and less than an hour after THAT their entire web presence went dark. The job listing was taken down. The website was mysteriously down for “scheduled” lol “maintenance” lol. The company metaphorically (and maybe literally) packed up, shredded the files, burned down the building, jumped ship, and pretended this ish never happened.
Naturally, as someone who loves drama to fight injustice, I had to get to the bottom of what type of company would pull this punkass move. Turns out? It’s a female-founded, female-run company headed by Sara Christensen, who just so happens to be the smiling face of the girl who basically told Clow to eff off. The misogyny is coming from inside the house!
According to The Pitch Queen (where she guest-starred on a podcast):
“Sara Christensen is the feisty founder of Kickass Masterminds. She’s been a successful business owner for more than 20 years, starting and running five of her own profitable companies. Her largest business was producing revenue of $10 million per year and had 75 full-time employees when she sold it. She’s also owned a Marketing Communications Firm, a Jewelry Design Studio and a Wellness Business.
Before devoting her work full-time to her own businesses, Sara worked as the Head of Marketing and Business Development for several dot-com and high-tech companies.
She’s also a best-selling author and keynote speaker.”
Author, you say? Keynote speaker, you say? Let us dig. I (naturally) had to find her book and (naturally) had to see what sort of ideas she was peddling. Maybe tips about what to wear to the pool in 1812? How to feel less confident in your skin? How to be a smokeshow but not let people know you’re a smokeshow in your posts even though you’re obviously a smokeshow?
Nah, just a good old fashioned “love yourself and stand up for yourself even though you’re a woman in corporate America” bit. Lolz.
Lurve how this is the back of #KickassMasterminds founder, Sara Christensen's book. pic.twitter.com/PfjLyXUUdL
— Rachel Varina (@rachelvarina) October 2, 2019
So, Sara’s literal WHOLE brand is about learning to stop caring what people think to get ahead in business. You know, kind of what our girl Clow was doing when she APPLIED FOR THE POSITION. Gosh, I love the irony and trust me, it wasn’t lost on Clow.
“I am utterly baffled and appalled that a company started by women and that preaches about rebelling against corporate America would objectify applicants and use a traditional mindset when reviewing someone interested in marketing. I don’t believe it is unprofessional to wear a bathing suit during the summer in Austin. I didn’t realize being comfortable with my body while embodying a strong work ethic was so taboo.”
Neither did we, Clow. Neither did we. To say it’s baffling to the entire internet would be a massive freaking understatement at this point.
this is fucking hilarious, considering pic.twitter.com/dmjABdm4s3
— Emily Clow (@emilyeclow) October 1, 2019
At this point, I don’t know if Sara was the one who posted the photo or if some social media intern royally f*cked up, but the point is: Kickass Masterminds is well on its way to going viral, and not for the reason any company would want. But hey, any press is good press, right Sara?
“What I find incredible is the amount of support I have received,” said Clow. “Obviously, @sheratesdogs posting my story is the sole reason why the company went completely dark. I don’t know if I should thank them or not for it, but being able to have a voice in a generation where you can so easily be ignored really is powerful. Yeah, we made a small company in Austin go dark because they objectified me, but we still made a difference.
If it wasn’t me, they would’ve done it to another applicant and who knows what could have happened. I am glad to have been able to speak out and shed light on an issue that is very common (although I didn’t think it was in Austin anymore).”
Unfortunately for any of you wannabe marketers out there dying to join this cutting-edge company, it appears Kickass Masterminds is no longer accepting applications. Womp womp.
The best part? After all of this started going down, Clow received a notification that her application was viewed again by the company at 3:47pm on October 1st, a little over an hour after the story started getting traction online. Guess the applicant made quite the impression, huh?
So, when asked if Clow would take the position if it was offered to her now, (because at this point, who knows what will happen? The company could come back and be like “hey! We’ll make you president if you don’t sue”) she gave a resounding “FUUUUUCK NO.” JK, Clow is classier than that. What she did say, however, is:
“Absolutely not. One person said in my mentions to the company that, ‘it should make any person afraid to work in your organization for fear that they are going to be objectified and sexualized for just living their lives.’ I stand by that statement 110%. While I have considered legal action, with my name and face not being displayed in the story, there isn’t much I can do.”
So, what does Clow want to do now that she’s quite literally proven herself as a bomb-ass marketer, having gained close to 400 followers in like, 12 hours?
“I am looking at sales, marketing, and social media jobs. My dream job would be with Red Bull Media. The number of people, teams, and events they sponsor is absurd. To be a part of an ever-growing marketing team whose exposure is expanding exponentially would be incredible.”
Get at it, Red Bull. You know our girl is gonna get poached in a heartbeat because when all is said and done NOBODY PUTS CLOW IN THE CORNER!
Still, Sara Christensen has stated that it wasn’t the photo that disqualified Clow. In fact, Clow wasn’t disqualified at all. From Daily Mail:
“The woman in question was not disqualified because of her social media profile. In fact, she was not disqualified at all. There was no communication to her saying she was disqualified.
She requested that I remove it and I did immediately.”
Weird, because it sort of seemed like she was disqualified when her photo was posted on the company’s Instagram with the note about how that’s not how you get a job. Curious. Anyway, Clow’s response to all of this?
“I would hope they take a step back and reevaluate how they approach the vetting process for applicants. In our day in age, social media has become so loose and accepted by most employers as NOT representing someone’s work ethic and experience. I hope in the future that no other applicant has this experience. Although it has sparked a discussion about social media and job hunting, I don’t think a bikini pic should judge someone’s ability to do a job successfully.”
I’ll say it again for the folks in the back: NOBODY PUTS CLOW IN THE CORNER!!!!!!!!!!!
Images: emilyeclow (2), sheratesdogs, rachelvarina / Twitter; clowd_nine (2) / Instagram; kickassmasterminds.com; indeed.com
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I know. I know. But before you lose your f*cking sh*t like I did, hear me out. I was sitting in a meeting when the NY Times clickbait banner shot across my phone like lightening, reading, “New York City is legalizing the discredited practice of gay conversion therapy. Here’s why.” I had a moment of panic and shoved my screen in the face of my coworker who’s smarter than me, and in a matter of seconds she read the article and explained why it’s a necessary thing and not quite as bad as it sounds.
It’s been almost two years since the NYC council rejoiced after passing a ban on conversion therapy, a widely disparaged practice that, according to GLAAD, is any attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. It’s been ruled illegal in 18 states and the District of Columbia and has been denounced by medical professionals for many years. A 2009 report by the American Psychological Association confirmed that it does not work, harms patients, and infers that sexual orientation, gender expression, and gender identity is a mental disorder, which it is not.
So why the f*ck is New York City, one of the most liberal places in the country, making it legal to subject people to such a backwards-thinking practice? Basically, to ensure the case doesn’t go to the Supreme Court, where the outcome could royally screw us until the end of time. The New York Times explains, “The move is a gambit to neutralize a federal lawsuit filed against the city by a conservative Christian legal organization. If the case were to be heard by the Supreme Court, advocates for the LGBT community fear that the panel could issue a ruling that could severely damage attempts to ban or curtail conversion therapy.” The article continues with an interview with the speaker of the council, who is openly gay and HIV positive, Corey Johnson. He says, “Obviously I didn’t want to repeal this. I don’t want to be someone who is giving in to these right wing groups, but the Supreme Court has become conservative; the Second Circuit, which oversees New York, have become more conservative.”
And before you totally panic, it’s not repealed yet. The Associated Press reports that the proposed repeal is going to a committee hearing next week, then will have a vote in the council, then has to be signed by the mayor. And, the NYC law that bans conversion therapy for minors will still remain in effect.
The lawsuit was started by a conservative Arizona-based group, the Alliance Defending Freedom, saying conversion therapy is a First amendment issue, and by making it illegal, they’re censoring speech. So yeah, it’s total bullsh*t, but this is the world we live in now! Don’t forget to go to the voting booth on November 8th, well-informed of what you’re voting for to keep our state Supreme Court from being potentially even more conservative-leaning!
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Images: Giphy
