If there's one group of people you don't want to upset, it's "mommy bloggers."
Reese Witherspoon recently spoke at WSJ Magazine's 2017 Innovator Awards and addressed the importance of representing women on screen in Hollywood and providing more and more women with the opportunity to share their unique and powerful voices. Pretty great stuff, don't you think? Well, Witherspoon made one grave error when she decided to make a throwaway joke disparaging 'mommy bloggers,' and the Internet immediately chastised her for it.
Witherspoon received the Entertainment Innovator of the Year Award for her extraordinary work in film and production — she owns her own production company Hello Sunshine, which is committed to telling female-driven stories.
via: Getty Images
During her acceptance speech, Witherspoon addressed issues like sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood "to shine a light on the dire need for more opportunities for women and people of color," according to Redbook. Witherspoon said, "I don't really believe that we've been seeing the full spectrum of the female experience, and that is simply because women's stories are not prioritized. I also just think we need to think about women differently, because women are the largest captured consumer audience in the world." She added that women want "real substance and thought-provoking entertainment," and then came the fatal moment, when she quipped, "And I'm not talking about mommy blogs and 14 ways to cook a turkey." Reese! What are you doing, Reese?!That entire group of female content creators Witherspoon managed to alienate in one fell swoop immediately criticized her comments on Twitter and on their own blogs.
Can't we want both? "Reese Witherspoon: Women want quality content, not "mommy blogs" and 14 ways to cook a turkey" https://t.co/fKL5egdGKn— Heather Brooker (@Heather Brooker)1509829235.0
While it may have been meant as a joke, Witherspoon really did dismiss an entire genre of content created by women during a speech about supporting content created by women. Not a great look.
I love you @RWitherspoon but am sad you’d make a sweeping generalization about a group of women, no less. #mommyblogs— Kristen Mei Chase (@Kristen Mei Chase)1509829671.0