British Celebrity Under Fire for Using N-Word in Speaking Out Against Bullying
British celebrity Katie Price has been on an anti-bullying crusade lately and it was going fine… until today.
Mediaite has already gone over her anti-bullying activism, which she came to as a result of the insults hurled at her young son, Harvey, who suffers from septo-optic dysplasia and Prader–Willi syndrome in addition to being on the Autism spectrum. The model and entrepreneur launched a petition to make online abuse a specific criminal offense.
All of that sounds good, but today she made a point of using the N-word on live television. Courtesy of the Daily Mail, you’ll find the clip from This Morning above. In it, she’s clearly repeating the foul things trolls have said about her biracial child, but as a white woman, her use of the word was still shocking.
Fans and observers soon divided into two camps as some defended her right to use the language and showcase just how terrible the abuse her son receives is and others insisted she still has no right to actually say that word. Price is retweeting her defenders:
She even went as far as to make a video of herself saying the word several more times and explaining why she feels it’s important to do so. Because of the language included, we won’t embed the video, but you’ll find it here. That clip, too, brought out anger against Price. The replies to her video are pretty arresting just for their diversity, not to mention how genuinely invested each person seems in their own position on the issue:
@JustGeoUK @MissKatiePrice The fact that she’s saying it so casually makes me very uncomfortable, she could’ve gotten her message across w/out saying that vile word
— MariAneka (@MariAneka_) April 26, 2017
@MissKatiePrice Under no circumstances will it be acceptable for you to use the word and it’s not your place to decide that. You are wrong.
— Monique Monrowe (@Monrowe) April 26, 2017
@MissKatiePrice The only people who you are pissing off are BLACK people. White people are not magically going to stop using the word
— #LaidBareLive (@Oloni) April 26, 2017
#KatiePrice Everything she says or does is about her, she has such a potty mouth, she thinks shes above anyone & able to say whatever #fool
— ♥♥MRSINDEPENDENT♥♥ⓁⓅ (@BenningtonIsGod) April 26, 2017
@MarkyGee666 @MissKatiePrice @francescabrits @Carl_Bembridge @thismorning You respect someone that disrespects your own skin colour by saying the n word??
— Steven (@OneFootValencia) April 26, 2017
@scouserev @MissKatiePrice Maybe your five year old should be in school and not watching this morning? ?
— Toni (@macaronitoni_x) April 26, 2017
@MissKatiePrice This is all bs. You really couldn't find any other way of getting your message across without using it?
— NUBIAN QUEEN (@_Casx) April 26, 2017
Fights are still raging in her Twitter mentions hours later, but Price herself has moved on. Her latest tweets are promotions for her makeup line, boutique, and nutrition brand.
[image: screengrab]
