Rebel Wilson is blocking critics on Twitter after her 'first plus size rom-com lead' gaffe

Rebel Wilson is facing backlash after incorrectly declaring herself to be "the first plus size girl to be the lead in a studio rom-com."
 By 
Chloe Bryan
 on 
Rebel Wilson is blocking critics on Twitter after her 'first plus size rom-com lead' gaffe
Rebel Wilson is apparently blocking critics on Twitter. Credit: Rich Polk/Getty Images for MTV

Rebel Wilson caught some heat on Thursday for declaring herself the first plus-sized woman to be the lead in a romantic comedy. (Her new film Isn't It Romantic comes out next Valentine's Day.)

She was wrong: Queen Latifah and Mo'Nique, for example, have taken on such roles in the past.

Instead of admitting her gaffe and moving on, though, it appears that Wilson is blocking people who've pointed out her mistake on Twitter. In particular, numerous critics of color -- many of whom brought up Queen Latifah and Mo'Nique in their comments -- reported being blocked by Wilson over the weekend. (Mo'Nique herself encouraged Wilson to "take a moment and know the history," but as far as we know, she was not blocked.)

Film and television critic ReBecca Theodore-Vachon even gave it a hashtag: #RebelWilsonBlockedMe. (There are plenty of tweets about this that don't use the hashtag as well.)

UPDATE: Nov. 5, 2018, 6:44 p.m. EST Wilson issued an apology on Twitter on Monday evening.

Wilson did tweet in a reply to playwright Claire Willett Saturday that she will address what happened "while promoting [Isn't it Romantic] in the proper forums."

"It was never my intention to erase anyone else’s achievements and I adore you and Queen Latifah so so much x," she also tweeted in response to Mo'Nique's criticism. "I support all plus size ladies and everything positive we are doing together."

So maybe an apology is forthcoming, but this is still a disturbing sequence of events for a few reasons. First, it is clear from a quick Google search that Wilson's original statement wasn't true -- did she do any research at all? Next, Wilson's choice to block people of color for criticizing her also makes her seem not only unwilling to listen, but unwilling to listen to voices different from her own.

"We gotta lift each other up," Willett wrote on Twitter, "and that means fairly crediting the women who got there first."

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Chloe Bryan

Chloe was the shopping editor at Mashable. She was also previously a culture reporter. You can follow her on Twitter at @chloebryan.

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