46-year-old American actress, Alyssa Milano, has been a humanitarian for as long as most of us can remember — and while she has a heart of gold, and would never intentionally try to upset or offend anybody, she definitely may have taken things a little too far…
In the past, Alyssa has always advocated for humanity.
She has been a major supporter of the #MeToo movement, women’s rights, trans rights, gay rights — she generally just wants all people to be respected and treated equally.
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She is a well respected individual in the activist community.
There’s really nothing to dislike about her.
She has dedicated a large portion of her life to wanting the world to be a better place for everyone.
Unfortunately, a lot of the topics that she advocates for are sensitive ones, and it can be easy to accidentally say the wrong thing.
Which is exactly what she did.
To pay tribute to International Women’s Day last week, Alyssa tweeted:
“My transgender sisters! I am celebrating YOU this #NationalWomensDay! “
No harm, no foul. Everything was going smoothly.
But then she made her first mistake: engaging with a troll, who’s sole purpose was to fluster her.
Social media 101: Never let the trolls get under your skin. That’s what they want!
Someone commented on Alyssa’s tweet, asking if she was transgender.
Not that this should matter — but I guess Alyssa’s tweet sparked some public curiosity, and this man wasn’t afraid to ask what was on his mind.
Side note: Kirk’s tweet received a lot of backlash from Alyssa’s fans.
People were very quick to drag him for his ignorance.
But Alyssa’s response was marginally worse.
“I’m trans. I’m a person of color. I’m an immigrant. I’m a lesbian. I’m a gay man. I’m the disabled. I’m everything,” Alyssa responded.
“And so are you, Kirk,” she wrote, adding , “Don’t be afraid of what you don’t know or understand. No one wants to hurt you. We are all just looking for our happily ever after.”
It’s clear that her intentions were never to offend anybody. But she tweeted out something that sparked a lot of hate.
But like I said, there was definitely no ill-intent involved. She simply sent out a poorly thought out tweet.
But here’s the thing, Alyssa is a wealthy white woman. So this tweet angered a lot of people.
Although Alyssa is and has been fighting the good fight, and advocating for all the right things, she can never truly know what it’s like to be anything of the things she just called herself, and understand any of their struggles.
“No. You are an advocate. Be ok with that. This isn’t the way to say you are with us. You can’t just fake an experience you don’t have.” One follower replied, adding:
“You don’t navigate any space like these groups. This is the ‘I don’t see color’ approach which is oppression and erasure ,”
Another person pointed out that Alyssa should stop focusing on identity politics altogether.
He further went on to explain that people should start simply seeing people for who they are rather than what makes them a victim.
“Had no idea you were a transgender. And you have the narcissism to think you can relate to everyone’s life.” Another follower tweeted.
“No you’re a white woman who feels that she needs to be ashamed so she takes on the role of hating herself to make sure no one hates her. Facts,” they went on .
As the negative responses came flooding in, Alyssa took the time to clarify what she meant, and apologize to anyone that she offended.
Turns out she just needed to further explain herself in order to smooth things over.
Alyssa was trying to make a point that even though we’re all different individuals, we’re all human — therefore one in the same.
But unfortunately, her tweet didn’t hit the way she intended it to.
In an attempt to put out the fire, she also tweeted a quote that she felt would get her point across much clearer.
Did it work?
