Christina Applegate, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2021, said she was horrified by conservative commentator Candace Owens’ reaction to a SKIMS Adaptive Collection ad with disabled advocate and model Haleigh Rosa in a wheelchair.
Last week, The Daily Wire host called the ad “ridiculous,” adding. “I don’t really understand how far we’re going to take this inclusivity thing. I really don’t get it… If I’m wrong again, educate me, today, I just want to be educated in the comments… I don’t know why this needs to be done. I’m getting tired of this all-inclusivity thing.”
Applegate responded on Wednesday on Twitter, defending the ad and slamming Owens’ statement as “f—king gross.” “Woke to see the most horrifying thing. This Candace person making comments about companies who see we need help. It’s f—king gross… #youshouldknowbetter“
The actress, whose credits include “Dead Like Me,” “Anchorman” and “Married… With Children,” thanked SKIMS, as well as Neo-Walk sticks, and Guide Beauty, the universal design beauty product company co-founded by Selma Blair, who also has MS, and makeup artist Terri Bryant, who has Parkinson’s disease.
In a follow-up tweet, she offered to help “educate” Owens: “I thought my last tweet was enough. But then my heart said something else. No rage. If Candace wants to get on the phone with me to be educated on being disabled. I will not come with anger. I will come with love. Because she needs to hear that. I pray for her tonight.”
Owens responded to earlier critiques in her Wednesday podcast: “Let’s debunk the idea that I’m an ableist. I thought that was really, really interesting, that I somehow wanted to pursue disabled people and I somehow wanted them out of spaces. That is absolute nonsense,” she said.
She also said, “Do you actually believe [SKIMS founder] Kim Kardashian uses obese models because she wants to be ‘inclusive’? That she thinks the beauty standard needs to shift? No, she doesn’t. She’s checking off a box & making millions of dollars so she can get procedures to look nothing like them.”
Rosa, the model in the SKIMS ad, also offered to talk to Owens, “After getting injured I remember not seeing anyone like me in campaigns. At the same time, I was relearning simple tasks like clothing myself. It would have been so helpful to see someone in a wheelchair; I’m so happy that we’re finally coming around. Seeing someone like you matters; representation matters,” she told Forbes. “Wheelchair users will not agree with [Owens’] views. If [Owens] truly wants to educate herself, she can reach out to me. I’m not one for cancel culture; I believe in the power of education. I’d love to have a conversation and educate Candace.”
