Vanessa Hudgens's coronavirus comments seen as problematic by Twitter users and celebrities alike
In light of this global pandemic we are currently living in, celebs have taken to their social media to post messages of positivity, encourage people to donate to organizations and provide entertainment while we’re all isolating ourselves at home.
Some examples are Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner going live on Instagram and providing quality entertainment, Ellen DeGeneres lazing around in her home attempting puzzles and calling her famous friends and former Bachelorette stars Hannah Brown and Tyler Cameron growing their names on TikTok.
Vanessa Hudgens also had a choice of words on the situation. She went live on her Instagram and, while complaining about Coachella being canceled, was asked about whether the effects of the virus would last till July. She responded saying “It's a virus, I get it. Like, I respect it. But at the same time, like, even if everybody gets it, like, yeah, people are gonna die, which is terrible but, like, inevitable?"
Hudgens’s comments were not received well. People thought she was dismissing the severity of the situation by making fun of people dying. She went back on Instagram live the next day to apologize, claiming her words were taken out of context and encouraged everyone to stay at home and take the situation seriously.
She issued a longer apology on her Twitter saying “I realize my words were insensitive and not at all appropriate for the situation our country and the world are in right now. This has been a huge wake-up call about the significance my words have.”
People have had a lot to say about this. Model Chrissy Teigen and Twitter connoisseur came to Hudgens’s defense in a series of tweets, “Sometimes people, especially famous people, are gonna say really stupid shit. (And) so are you, And they, and u, will learn from it (and) hopefully their history says they’re good. It’s ok. And at the same time, wow they really had a dumb ... moment. but u don’t have (to) ruin their lives.”
But, others have differing opinions. Actress Olivia Wilde jabbed at Hudgens in her Instagram live, saying, “In a thousand years they'll dig up our society and find this precious digital moment and be like 'mmmm oh okay so this is why they mysteriously disappeared from the Earth.”
Actor Logan Lerman retweeted a tweet that said Hudgens was spreading a “horrible and heartless message” to young people and called her a “schmuck.”
Users also called out Hudgens’s privileged status and pointed out that while she is missing Coachella, a ton of other people are missing paychecks.
Twitter users are having a grand time making memes out of the situation and “canceling” Hudgens. Even though Hudgens was dismissive of the issue at hand and suggested she didn’t take into account the lives that are being lost or threatened due to this virus, canceling her isn’t going to do much help either.
We should allow people, including celebrities, to learn from their mistakes and grow as human beings, as Teigen encouraged. It was clear that Hudgens' perspective of the severity of the virus was limited and she didn’t think before she spoke. Considering people who don’t have the resources or financial support to sit at home and wait until their lives resume back to normal, it’s reasonable why people reacted the way they did.
People in the public eye don’t always say the right thing at the right time, and hopefully Hudgens will check in with her privilege next time and properly educate herself on the state of our world before commenting on it. But alas, this will go down as another controversial moment in the celebrity sphere.
