To promote her new movie, Isn’t It Romantic, Rebel Wilson bragged that she is “proud to be the first-ever plus-sized girl to be the star of a romantic comedy” on The Ellen DeGeneres Show last week, a statement that is simply factually untrue.
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After doubling down on her comments in replies to fans on Twitter all weekend – who rightly pointed out that both Queen Latifah and Mo’Nique have played rom com leads before – Wilson has finally apologised for both her incorrect comments and for blocking people who were simply trying to remind her that women of colour exist.
In a couple of well-intentioned moments, hoping to lift my fellow plus sized women up, I neglected to show the proper respect to those who climbed this mountain before me like Mo’Nique, Queen Latifah, Melissa McCarthy, Ricki Lake and likely many others. With the help of some very compassionate and well-thought out responses from others on social media, I now realise what I said was not only wrong but also incredibly hurtful. To be a part of a problem I was hoping I was helping makes it that much more embarrassing & hard to acknowledge. I blocked people on Twitter because I was hurting from the criticism, but those are the people I actually need to hear from more, not less. Again, I am deeply sorry.
https://twitter.com/RebelWilson/status/1059589413993275392
https://twitter.com/RebelWilson/status/1059590009995505665
https://twitter.com/RebelWilson/status/1059590119009599489
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpceJ7cFYqR/
On Friday, one fan pointed out two women, Queen Latifah and Mo’Nique, who had definitely reached that significant milestone first. So what did Wilson do? Instead of taking on the criticism, growing, learning, changing, she got pedantic, arguing that it was questionable whether those women were plus-sized at all, or were actually sole leads in a “studio” rom com. They were – in 2006 in Last Holiday and Phat Girlz respectively.
That’s where Mo’Nique herself weighed in: “Hey my sweet sister. Let’s please not allow this business to erase our talent with giving grey areas and technicalities. Take a moment and know the history. DON’T BE A PART OF ERASING IT. I wish you the best.”
Seems like Mo’Nique got through to Wilson, who wrote: “Hi Monique, it was never my intention to erase anyone else’s achievements and I adore you and Queen Latifah so so much x I support all plus size ladies and everything positive we are doing together 
“.
Hi Monique, it was never my intention to erase anyone else’s achievements and I adore you and Queen Latifah so so much x I support all plus size ladies and everything positive we are doing together ❤️
— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) November 3, 2018
In a reply to a full-on thread from one fan who tried to explain how women of colour – especially plus-sized women of colour – are presented in film, and how Wilson’s comments erase their stories, Wilson promised to address any concerns when she’s on the full promo circuit, probably early next year: “I’m all about supporting plus size women and I work so hard to do so. I never want to disrespect anyone “.
Great points honey, thank you x will address when promoting the film in proper forums. I’m all about supporting plus size women and I work so hard to do so. I never want to disrespect anyone ❤️
— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) November 3, 2018
