Rose McGowan has been one of the loudest voices speaking out against sexual harassment and assault in recent weeks, but she recently took some criticism for a tweet comparing jokes about assault to a racial slur.
The actress’s tweet came after James Corden’s jokes about Harvey Weinstein at the amfAR Gala over the weekend — jokes the “Late Late Show host would later apologize for as well.
“THIS IS RICH FAMOUS HOLLYWOOD WHITE MALE PRIVILEGE IN ACTION,” she wrote in the now-deleted post. “REPLACE THE WORD ‘WOMEN’ w/ the ‘N’ word. How does it feel?”
HEY ROSE MCGOWAN I CAN'T REPLACE THE WORD WOMEN WITH THE N-WORD CUZ I- AND MILLIONS MORE- ARE BOTH!
THIS IS WHAT WE MEAN BY WHITE FEMINISM! pic.twitter.com/2Nl53JSYjz
— New Orleans Lady (@IfIWereMagneto) October 15, 2017
The tweet was slammed for ignoring the experience of black women, who don’t have to imagine the feeling of being discriminated against on the basis of both gender and race. The Root’s Clarkisha Kent criticized McGowan of embodying the shortcomings of white feminism in a post titled “On Rose McGowan and the Continued Failure of White Feminism.”
“Cis, straight, white male violence impacts us all, and I’m all for that being dismantled and taken out,” she wrote. “What I am not for is white women co-opting the struggles of black people — black women specifically — to do this.”
On Sunday, McGowan blamed intoxication for her “weird” statement. “Note to self: do not smoke a J late at night and make weird analogies,” she wrote. That was followed by a more sincere apology for the “stupidity lapse” on Monday: “And, please, to anyone POC I offended with my stupidity lapse, know that I am profoundly sorry. I hear you.”
https://twitter.com/rosemcgowan/status/920053124315865088
“Regarding McGowan’s tweet, ‘n—–‘ is not a historical slur against ‘POC.’ It is a slur against black people,” Kent wrote. “Black. People. Referring to white women as such is not only gross hyperbole but is fundamentally false. White women are not black and therefore will never know that struggle.”
Women fighting back against misogyny in the wake of the Weinstein scandal were also criticized of ostracizing women of color from their efforts in planning the #WomenBoycottTwitter protest (in part because McGowan was briefly suspended from the platform) last week.
Activist April Reign launched a #WOCAffirmation campaign the same day, arguing that silencing women’s voices was a counterproductive strategy and that women of color, including ESPN’s Jemele Hill and “Ghostbusters” star Leslie Jones, have not been met with the same solidarity.