Image via Instagram @gi.hadidupdates
“I love my husband President Barack Obama and our children, Sasha and Malia,” ”
These are the words that launched a hate campaign against poor Gigi Hadid — one so heavy and menacing that Hadid was forced to issue an apology on Twitter, in the form of a handwritten note, in order to mitigate some of the hate coming her way. Hold the phone.
So no one can make fun of Melania Trump? This is how it happens people.
First you go after the cast of Hamilton and now you go after a model for a fairly accurate impression. Did Melania steal Michelle Obama’s speech… oh yes she did. And according to the new order of things, no one is allowed to reference it or poke fun at it. History revised. To me, what Gigi Hadid did was the best of satire. Because good satire punches up and Melania Trump is pretty set.
The picture of fragility painted around Melania Trump is one that we should all be very, very worried about. Because the shit don’t stick to this woman and that is ultimately very dangerous for our society — especially as a First Lady.
Fragility surrounding white women is something we’ve all seen a great deal of, but this is a bit much. Let’s remember who this woman is married to for a second — a man who once made fun of a disabled person and continues to lie about it, even though the images and tape exist on every news network you can shake a stick at. The constant gas lighting coming from this soon-to-be Presidential administration is really worrying and that begs for its own essay. But making fun of the disabled, it really doesn’t get lower than that.
And now this man is President. And nobody better mock his wife.
To me, I find Gigi Hadid pressured into apologizing for a silly impression of Melania Trump to be slightly terrifying and very telling of what’s to come. Because if everyone is made to bend so early at the slightest joke or challenge, what’s to happen when there’s actual opposition that speaks out?
And don’t forget that that the Vice President also can’t take any sort of criticism. Just a day after the cast of Hamilton respectfully asked that he fight for “all people," our President-elect was at it demanding an apology from the cast through his infamous Twitter account. Because that’s an efficient use of time when someone respectfully addresses that, as a public figure, you represent them as much as you represent the people who put you in power. That is from the same Twitter account used to mock and harass countless people like Rosie O’Donnell, for years.
Highly presidential, that.
Did Melania Trump essentially bold face copy pieces of Michelle Obama’s speech? Why yes she did. Those actions alone would have been enough to take any other candidate down a few pegs, but instead the story fell to the back page of the news as the “Trump train” gained steam. Because no foul was too large at this point. It clearly doesn’t matter. Because if you’re not going to question the VISAs she used to work in the USA (which many claim were dubious), or the fact that she lied about having a college degree… then stealing a speech is just water under the bridge.
Slut shaming is bad, wrong and a bi-product of a patriarchal society which has always wanted to control women’s bodies and their sexuality. However, it is not wrong to point out that if Michelle Obama had naked photos circulating the internet, people would be RELENTLESS. And by people, I mean those who claim not to like President Obama’s policies but then quietly recite the same racist rhetoric about his ethnicity and birth origin.
Because for eight years straight, no matter how good Michelle Obama has been in the eyes of some, she was doing everything wrong.
And by everything wrong, they mean… we have nothing on her so let’s criticize her body, because that old chestnut always works. They’ve criticized her body, relentlessly. I’ve seen her in person several times. She’s in fantastic shape. When I say “they," I’m referring to elected government officials and radio shock jocks. They’ve told her to “cover up” when she wore sleeveless dresses. They made up nicknames referring to bovines. At the very worst, they’ve compared her to a gorilla — that old racist trope. They’ve said horrible things about their children.
And through it all, not once has President Obama demanded that anyone apologize for the cruelty — not criticism, not satire, but outright cruelty, and well, racism.
I also haven’t forgotten how every expense Michelle Obama made was scrutinized — every vacation taken. Meanwhile, protecting the Trump family, who won’t be moving into the White House, will cost American taxpayers $1 million dollars a day!
To me, I find Gigi Hadid pressured into apologizing for a silly impression of Melania Trump to be slightly terrifying and very telling of what’s to come. Because if everyone is made to bend so early at the slightest joke or challenge, what’s to happen when there’s actual opposition that speaks out?
Will they be silenced into not criticizing the administration at all? If any public figure is fair game for jokes and mockery, what makes Melania so special that she’s off limits at an award’s show? I personally don’t feel the need to stick up for Melania at all.
Because in the words of Kimberly N. Foster of For Harriet, “Melania’s going to be just fine."
The delicious irony of all of this is that Melania Trump wishes to campaign against “cyber bullying” when she takes on the position as First Lady. She could have actually taken the opportunity to show that she’s an adult who can take a joke by intervening with the harassment Hadid received after American Music Awards. Ah, another opportunity lost. But honestly, I just had a look at her Twitter account and it’s only marginally less petty than her husbands. Can you imagine if Michelle Obama’s twitter account was full of scandal and letters from lawyers?
But hey, good luck with the anti-cyber-bullying initiative.
