LGBT Site Writer Calls Ariana Grande’s New Video ‘Anti-Queer,’ Removes Byline After ‘Death Threats’
LGBT Site Writer Calls Ariana Grande’s New Video ‘Anti-Queer,’ Removes Byline After ‘Death Threats’
“When
a writer’s own life could potentially be at stake, we must take necessary steps
to ensure their safety,” INTO says
Jon LevineLast Updated: December 4, 2018 @ 6:19 AM
The
LGBT news website INTO has removed the byline for an opinion piece accusing Ariana Grande’s new music
video “thank u, next” of being “anti-queer” after the writer of the story
received death threats.
“We have decided to remove the author’s name from this piece
after the editorial team was alerted that a high number of death threats were
being made against the writer as a result of the opinions presented in this
piece,” read an editor’s note affixed to the top of the article.
“INTO has historically been a place for varying opinions from
LGBTQ people around the world, and will remain such a place — but these
opinions never warrant violence,” it continued. “And when a writer’s own life
could potentially be at stake, we must take necessary steps to ensure their
safety.”
It’s
unclear whether the death threats were coming from enraged Ariana Grande fans,
or from anti-LGBT trolls. Website editor-in- chief Zach Stafford did not
immediately respond to request for comment from TheWrap.
In the piece, the now anonymous author, hit Grande for
“blackface” and “transmisogyny.”
“Her music video failed to support the basic dignity of queer
and trans people,” it reads. “Laden with transmisogyny, anti-queer jokes, and
blackface, the video follows Ariana’s white feminist awakening through a
celebrity-laden nod to several cult classics”
The story then went on to list a number of examples from the
music video, including a moment when gay performer Troye Sivan says of
Grande: “I heard she’s a lesbian now and dating some chick called Aubrey. It’s
f—ing sick.” The line was part of a broader homage to the movie “Mean Girls.”
INTO, a
news organization owed by the LGBT dating app Grindr, has produced a string of
notable pieces in recent weeks, which have included sending reporters into Mexico to cover the migrant
caravan. The site was also the first to report news that Grindr
president, Scott Chen, did not believe in same-sex marriage.
They
also produce the web’s most extensive coverage and commentaryfor “RuPaul’s
Drag Race”
Comments
Post a Comment