The news gets pretty weird these days, but some make it feel like we’re living in a bad improv set. Example: One of the guys who wrote Shrek was criticized recently for using a racial slur in a tweet about anti-vaxxers like himself. His name is Terry Rossio, and on Friday he thought it was a good idea to compare those who don’t vaccinate their kids because of stuff they read on Google or learned from Jenny McCarthy to oppressed minorities. He also thought it was a good idea to say they were just like…well, he used the n-word.
Sunday, Rossio finally apologized. After deleting the tweet — which used the full word, not a censored version — the Hollywood screenwriter wrote, “In a recent Twitter post, arguing against stereotyping and hate speech, I referenced the ‘n-word’ (the actual word) as an example of what not to do. That was a mistake. I am sorry. I now understand that the word has no place in any conversation, ever.”
He added, “You can’t make a point against hate speech and reference actual words of hate speech. That was insensitive and ignorant. I am immediately deleting the post to remove that toxic word from the internet, where it should never appear in any context.”
https://twitter.com/TerryRossio/status/1066546152827305984
https://twitter.com/TerryRossio/status/1066546212101283840
https://twitter.com/TerryRossio/status/1066546276060192768
Rossio — who also has writing credits on the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Aladdin, and Little Monsters — was originally tweeting in response to a thread on anti-vaxxers. His post read, “My heart goes out to all the parents of vaccine damaged children, who have to not only endure the sadness of their loss, but also the vitriol of ill-informed and insensitive people (such as those here). Anti-Vax is equivalent to calling someone a n—er and makes as little sense.” (Note: We censored the word, which, again, he used.) Among the blowback he received was someone making a Photoshop of Shrek being vaccinated.
(Via Deadline)
