The Week on TwitterTopical

The Week on Twitter | Piers Morgan, Wentworth Miller, & EgyptAir

By Jade Hayden

This week, Wentworth Miller put some bodyshamers in their place, Piers Morgan – well known gender equality advocate and scholar – let us all know that feminism was dead, and Chris Brown continued to be one of the worst human beings on the planet. Some guy also took a ‘selfie’ with the EgyptAir hijacker, and nobody was impressed.

@PiersMorgan sees topless photo, declares that feminism is dead

This week, Kim Kardashian posted a topless photo of herself. It was a good photo, because she and Emily Ratajkowski were in it, and the two of them are all about reclaiming female sexuality, and not slut shaming, and allowing women to be sexy outside of the male gaze, and stuff.

Piers Morgan got very upset by this photograph because he is Piers Morgan and simply cannot accept that a woman may choose to show off her body to the world of her own accord. He tweeted Kim’s photo next to a picture of Emmeline Pankhurst with the caption ‘RIP feminism,’ because he is Piers Morgan, and he is edgy, and he knows exactly what constitutes gender equality, unlike everybody else in the world, clearly.

Morgan then proceeded to post of myriad of tweets in an attempt to justify his assertion, saying things like ‘there’s no need for the middle finger ladies,’ ‘I prefer when female sexuality is controlled by me, a man,’ and ‘come sit on my lap with your clothes on instead, like the good girls I know you can be.’

Naturally, a lot of people were at least mildly irritated by Piers’ claims. Mainly because feminism is not dead, but also because we probably don’t need it mansplained to us by somebody who thought that Ellen DeGeneres was a “sexist pig” for recognising that Chris Hemsworth looks alright with his shirt off.

Twitter responded to Morgan in multiple ways. Some people hurled abuse at him. Lots took the time to explain why his views on female sexuality might actually be a little bit distorted. Others simply laughed at him. Here are their tweets.

But Piers was not deterred, and spent the subsequent days continuing to fight for women’s rights to not have body autonomy, or simply exist beneath the crushing weight of the patriarchy. He even went so far as to claim that he was being bodyshamed by Vice, who posted a cartoon of Morgan sweating profusely surrounded by consensual nudes.

Probably not quite the same thing, though.

@ChrisBrown mocks #Kehlani‘s suicide attempt, confirms status as awful human being

On Monday, Grammy nominated artist Kehlani attempted suicide after she was accused on social media of cheating on her current boyfriend with her ex-boyfriend. Soon after, the R&B singer posted a photo of her arm covered in IVs on Instagram, with the caption “… as of today, I had no single wish to see tomorrow. But God saved me for a reason, and for that… I must be grateful.”

For some reason, Chris Brown decided to weigh in on this issue on Twitter, stating that there was no such thing as “attempting suicide” and that Kehlani was just “flexing for the gram.” He also claimed that her “DMs got more names than the Declaration of Independence.”

Ever since he pleaded guilty to abusing Rihanna back in 2009, support for Brown’s endeavors has been on a steady decline. His unwarranted outburst this week only confirmed this fact, as many users and a few artists decided to unfollow him on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/BLVCKMATTERS/status/715663293994700801

https://twitter.com/swiaks/status/715227133531058176

#WentworthMiller meme prompts actor’s deeply personal post about depression

Recently, the Lad Bible shamed Wentworth Miller about his weight for a joke. The post compared a photo of Miller from his time on Prison Break to a later picture in which he did not appear to be as in shape. Lots of people laughed at the photo because, as we are all aware, the Lad Bible and ‘lad culture’ are institutions, and must be respected as such, apparently.

Following the popularity of the meme, Miller took to his Facebook account to respond. He began by stating that although this was not the first time he had been the subject of a meme, this one was a lot different for a lot of different reasons. He spoke about his struggle with suicidal thoughts and the depression he has suffered since a very young age, stating that “In 2010, at the lowest point in my adult life, I was looking everywhere for relief/comfort/distraction. And I turned to food (…) And I put on weight. Big f–king deal.”

Long story short I survived.
So do those pictures.
I’m glad.

The Lad Bible then apologised to Miller via their own Facebook page, where they admitted to have gotten the situation very wrong as “Mental health is no joke or laughing matter.” The group commended Miller for his honesty, and stated that they had never intended to cause any distress or pain.

https://twitter.com/StarWipe/status/715206440160522241

#EgyptAir hostage takes ‘selfie’ with hijacker

On Tuesday, Seif Eldin Mustafa took 63 passengers hostage on a plane in an attempt to garner the attention of his ex-wife. The hijacker claimed that he was wearing a suicide vest and forced the EgyptAir plane to land in Cyprus. A six and a half hour siege then commenced, where British hostage Ben Innes decided to approach Mustafa for a picture.

He called the photo the “best selfie ever” despite it not being a selfie at all, but just a regular photograph taken by another person. Following the successful escape of all passengers and the arrest of Mustafa, Innes was heavily criticised on social media – and by his mam – for his behaviour.

However, according to him, the reason he approached Mustafa for the photo was to show that he “wasn’t just a nameless, faceless victim – that I was a real living person.” Innes also claims that he wanted to try get a better look at the bomb, and that he has absolutely no regrets for his actions.

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Jade Hayden 144 posts 0 comments

Jade Hayden has an MA in journalism, a degree in English, and a house rabbit who sleeps in her bed sometimes. You'll often find her wearing glasses, fixing her fringe, and complaining about the amount of time she spends on public transport. Jade is also the editor of HeadStuff's topical section, and she'd love if you sent your submissions over to [email protected].

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