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Actress Rebel Wilson has issued an apology on Twitter for comments she made about being the first plus-size actress to a play a lead role in a romantic comedy.
She made the comments while speaking on The Ellen Show where she also noted that it was her debut as a producer in the new romantic comedy “Isn’t It Romantic” which is to be released next year.
However, she was heavily criticised for her comments, with many pointing out that plus-sized actresses Queen Latifah and Monique had previously starred in numerous romantic comedy roles such as Last Holiday and Phat Girls. In response to a tweet regarding the issue, Wilson claimed that there was a grey area as to whether or not these roles were a leading role in a rom-com film saying “Hey girl! Yeah I of course know of these movies but it was questionable as to whether: 1. Technically those actresses were plus size when filming those movies or 2. Technically those films are catorgorized/billed as a studio rom-com with a sole lead. So there’s a slight grey area.”
Following the backlash, Wilson then released a series of tweets apologising for her comments and acknowledged the criticism of her choice to block Twitter users who were openly criticising the actress.
She tweeted; “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 realize what I said was not only wrong but also incredibly hurtful,” she said. “To be part of a problem I was hoping I was helping makes it that much more embarrassing & hard to acknowledge.”
Also, adding that “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.”
