2013 Oscars: Quvenzhané Wallis Called the C-Word by The Onion, Twitterverse Reacts With Outrage

Satire-focused website under fire for tweeting, then deleting, a slur about the 9-year-old Beasts of the Southern Wild star, who is the youngest Best Actress nominee in Oscar history

By Alexis L. Loinaz Feb 25, 2013 12:45 PMTags
Quvenzhane Wallis, Oscars 2013Jason Merritt/Getty Images

The Onion left a bad taste in everyone's mouth on Oscar night.

The satirical website has come under fire for calling 9-year-old Beasts of the Southern Wild star and Oscar nominee Quvenzhané Wallis the C-word in a tweet, which it has since deleted.

The tweet, which was posted at 8:42 p.m. PT on Sunday, read: "Everyone else seems afraid to say it, but that Quvenzhané Wallis is kind of a c--t, right? #Oscars2013."

The post immediately sparked outrage among netizens, who rushed to the young star's defense and lashed out at The Onion.

"@TheOnion Identify the writer. Let him defend that abhorrent verbal attack of a child. You call it humor I call it horrendous," wrote The Wire star Wendell Pierce, who went on to demand that the site issue an apology.

"It doesn't matter what the intent was, it was offensive and they should apologize to Quvenzhane," he added.

"Half-heard story of @TheOnion tweet; assumed I heard wrong," wrote Keith Olbermann. "No; they DID wrong. Retract, apologize, dismiss."

Meanwhile, The Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead posted a sarcastic tweet that took the site to task, writing: "9-year olds are always so into irony. #AndAlwaysAppreciateIt #Edgy #Fail @TheOnion."

Wallis is the youngest Best Actress nominee in Oscar history, and she recently signed on to star in a buzzed-about big-screen remake of Annie, which is being produced by Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and Jay-Z.