E! is attempting to clear its name -- and likely dial down the amount of hate in its Twitter mentions -- after an article about the Teen Choice Awards and a corresponding Tweet angered a lot of youths, YouTubers and YouTubing youths.
The whole rage-fest started when E! produced an article about the Teen Choice Awards, titled "18 Moments From the 2015 Teen Choice Awards That Made Us Feel Super Old," in which fun was poked at winners and presenters, particularly those perceived as being outside of mainstream entertainment.
In the words of a spokesperson, the piece was meant to be "an irreverent, humorous take on the event."
But, unfortunately, some of the site's readers didn't get the memo.
On Monday, E! tweeted out an attempt to calm readers angered by the perceived diss piece by reminding them about The Grace Helbig Show, a late-night series from the popular YouTuber that had an 8 episode run earlier this year.
Remember that time we gave a YouTube star their own TV show? pic.twitter.com/XLjv9j5XUQ— E! Online (@eonline) August 17, 2015
Again, it was a misfire, as prominent members of the Twitter community -- and Helbig herself -- took the tweet as a slight.
This is embarrassing, @eonline. https://t.co/Agia73nCxF— Grace Helbig (@gracehelbig) August 18, 2015
.@eonline I do! That was a very progressive & intelligent decision for your brand. Your recent articles & tweets on the other hand, are not.— Connor Franta (@ConnorFranta) August 17, 2015
@eonline youre a mess— Hoodie Allen (@HoodieAllen) August 18, 2015
I'm so sad that I missed the final moments of @eonline's legitimacy because I was busy making things that people actually enjoy.— Hank Green (@hankgreen) August 18, 2015
The network, however, tells Mashable the tweet is being mischaracterized. Their full statement is below:
E! has always been supportive of the YouTube community and big fans of its stars who are regularly featured on E! News and across our programming. This particular E! Online story about the Teen Choice Awards was intended to be an irreverent, humorous take on the event. The corresponding tweet was taken out of context of a larger conversation, and was only meant to point out E!'s series with the incredibly funny and talented Grace Helbig, reinforcing how much the network values YouTube stars.
Meanwhile an E! spokesperson says no decisions have been made regarding the future of Helbig's show, but that "Grace is a gifted and incredibly funny talent who we are excited to continue working with."
#letsallbefriends?