Even Our Favorites Have Bad Social Media Days

By Jen Maravegias | Celebrity | January 25, 2023 |

By Jen Maravegias | Celebrity | January 25, 2023 |

Social Media is a minefield. Well, not for me. With fewer than 200 hundred followers, I’m not famous enough for anyone to be paying attention to what I’m doing. I don’t have much “reach” as they say. On the other hand, Mark Hamill, of Star Wars fame, has over five million people hanging on his every tweet.

Some of them got cheesed off earlier this week when it seemed like Hamill “liked” one of JK Rowling’s tweets that was part of an exchange with English television personality India Willoughby.

Hey @MarkHamill -
1. JK Rowling is a known transphobe
2. India Willoughby is a trans broadcast reporter in the UK
3. JK's response to India here (which you liked) is her being transphobic

Hoping you didn't know the context when you liked the tweet and that you will correct! pic.twitter.com/rh6OoUR62S

— Michelle (@MichelleRae_19) January 23, 2023

That does look bad. But he’s Luke Skywalker! You want to give him the benefit of the doubt. This isn’t the first time Hamill has been Twitter-educated on JK Rowling’s messaging though. In 2019 he got into hot water for “liking” one of her Tweets in support of a transphobic ruling in the British court.

I have a great deal of love and respect for our Jedi Master. It is with all of that love and respect that I implore him to improve his social media reading skills before he accidentally “likes” something that gives me a heart attack. I don’t understand his apology Tweet. But I also don’t think Hamill has all of a sudden decided to declare himself a member of the TERF Dark Side. He has a long history of being a supportive ally of the LGBTQIA community, so I’m looking at this as more of a miscommunication than anything nefarious.

What I "liked" about this exchange was someone speaking their truth to power. Twitter is, unfortunately, no place for nuance.
It's imperative I make this abundantly clear: I support human rights for EVERYONE, regardless of their gender identity, PERIOD. https://t.co/eqQxuaZiss

— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) January 24, 2023

Wendell Pierce also did not get off to a great start this week on the ol’ Bird App. After the announcement of this year’s Oscar nominees, Pierce took to Twitter to critique Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay nominee, Women Talking.

Watching WOMEN TALKING, the film allegory of the feminist movement, I was struck at how in the film, as in real life, no women of color were included. The film stated it was a true story in “the female imagination”. Even in the feminist utopia, women of color aren’t considered.

— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) January 24, 2023

In that thread, Pierce digs his heels in deep on a fundamental misunderstanding of Sarah Polley’s film. It makes it seem like he might have given up a few scenes into the movie and started scrolling his phone instead of giving it his full attention. It’s frustrating to read because I completely understand and empathize with the argument that he’s incorrectly making. Too much feminism is White Feminism. We all need to be aware of biases in ourselves and the media we consume and call them out. But I’ve never seen someone who is so wrong defend themselves so strongly.

I wish I had seen a movie about what you just described. I saw a debate film about what is the ideals of feminism. I wanted more voices in that debate. It’s interesting because I knew nothing going into the film but so many know the story and do a better job telling it

— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) January 25, 2023

What makes it worse is that most of the people he’s arguing with seem to identify as women. So he’s arguing with women that his experience of a film titled Women Talking is more valid than theirs. Back away slowly, Bunk. Be wrong in your wrongness and let. this. go. Please let this be a learning experience and an opportunity for you to work on your social media skills with Mr. Hamill up there.

Please get it together, guys. We need all the real allies we can get these days.