Wendy Williams Needs To Be Canceled, And Here’s Why [OPINION]
It's time for Wendy Williams to get off-camera, sit down and shut up.
In case you didn't know, let me give you a little bit of background on Ms. Williams - she was a radio personality before she started as a TV host, and she was highly respected in the industry. She worked at stations in the Virgin Islands, Washington D.C. and New York City. She was syndicated in cities all over the country and was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2009.
She was known as a "shock jockette" and was very open about her personal life, including her past drug addiction, Graves disease, and miscarriages. She connected with people, which is what radio is all about.
In 2009, she was offered a trial-run of her own TV show, and the rest is history. Now, Wendy Williams needs to be part of the past.
In the interest of being completely transparent, I've only watched her show a couple of times and never all the way through. When I did watch it, I didn't "get" it. She wasn't that entertaining and the show was a little too pop-culture for my taste. My opinion on her show is moot, though. It doesn't mean that it's a bad show; I just didn't care for it.
And then, she started making the news - first, it was for making fun of Joaquin Phoenix's cleft lip.
And then, less than a week ago, she came under fire for telling gay men to stop wearing skirts.
And before her apologies for these two controversies had even gone viral, she said THIS about Drew Carey's ex-fiance, who was murdered by a stalking ex-boyfriend.
The silence in the audience is deafening.
As a radio personality, I salute her for being open with her listeners, on the radio and on TV. Herein lies the problem, though - once you give somebody a platform to say nasty things about other people with no consequences, they're emboldened. And until her show is canceled, she'll continue to do this because she hasn't been penalized for it.
There aren't isolated incidents - this is a culture of bullying. And her show is a bully pulpit, but not in a GOOD way.
Change can be good, and change can be bad. You can reminisce about the "good ole' days" as much as you want, but the writing on the wall is clear - bullying isn't cool. We work so hard with kids nowadays on anti-bullying and acceptance, and the kids are responding. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the upcoming generations are good eggs.
How can we try to teach our kids that bullying isn't cool when we allow media figures to do it daily on TV, social media, etc.? STOP SUPPORTING HER. That's the only way to make a statement. Don't watch her show. Don't buy her wigs. Just DON'T. Money talks.
Her shock-jock style is out-of-style and out-of-date. Poking fun at people used to be entertaining, but we're better than that now. And Wendy, you NEED to evolve. You NEED to be better.
I know that I can't say whatever I want to on the radio; why is she allowed to talk out of her a**? She's got a MUCH bigger audience and I would never DREAM of saying the things that she does. And this Amie Harwick comment should be the last straw.
We wouldn't allow our children to say things like that, so why does SHE get a pass?