Looks like lifestyle site Mashable had a “Mission Accomplished” moment. It published an article yesterday (November 30) that posits that the film industry has fixed its longstanding issue of excluding people of color because a few actors have risen to renown. The tweet was deleted this morning (December 1), but it lives on in screenshots:
#MashableCancels this tweet: pic.twitter.com/L0xDHYZQjk
— Courtney M.T. (@courtneymt_) December 1, 2016
April Reign, the BroadwayBlack.com editor who created the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag campaign in 2015, was not impressed. She rallied the troops.
Y’all wanna have some fun this morning and make a point about the patriarchy & white supremacy?
What did you find out #MashableCancels?
— April (@ReignOfApril) December 1, 2016
And so it began. People used the hashtag #MashableCancels to both mock the site for assuming that it has the power to declare an end to the fight for people of color to be represented in the media they consume, and send up all the other things Mashable must have the power to cancel.
Mashable has since updated the story with the following note:
An initial version of this story suggested that #OscarsSoWhite was “canceled.” This was incorrect and insensitive, and we’ve since clarified: The acting nominees, the central point of contention over the past two years, could be more diverse than ever before. Even so, it does not solve the ongoing problem of diversity in Hollywood, and we regret suggesting otherwise.
And tweeted an apology:
We apologize for a thoughtless tweet that appeared here earlier. We made a mistake and we’ve since removed it. We can and will do better.
— Mashable (@mashable) December 1, 2016
Which Reign promptly responded to:
Cool, but it was the article, the lede, and your writer’s insensitive tone. Way more than just a tweet. #MashableCancels #OscarsSoWhite https://t.co/rJB2HZmXBy
— April (@ReignOfApril) December 1, 2016
Read a sampling of the tweets that caused Mashable’s moment of introspection:
#MashableCancels racism because the President is Black.
— April (@ReignOfApril) December 1, 2016
#MashableCancels Black Lives Matter because a white cop gave those black kids ice cream cones that one time.
— Kathryn Haydon (@kathrynhaydon) December 1, 2016
#MashableCancels Essence Magazine…no need for a magazine for black women when they put Viola Davis on the cover of Entertainment Weekly
— WELPington Bear (@MrRandyWATTsun) December 1, 2016
#MashableCancels Books, do we really need so many?
— Mariah Graves (@Dannikaius) December 1, 2016
#MashableCancels Flint water crisis after Flint man buys Dasani from vending machine
But seriously. Flint STILL doesn’t have clean water. pic.twitter.com/pFTt2SmcG4
— Shirley Pleaser (@BienSur_JeTaime) December 1, 2016
#MashableCancels the student loan debt crisis because someone made a payment. pic.twitter.com/L1DXrkHuGd
— Shirley Pleaser (@BienSur_JeTaime) December 1, 2016
#MashableCancels not employing black people maybe? pic.twitter.com/nTlxa2nHRD
— marcus (@marcusjdl) December 1, 2016
#MashableCancels Mashable. We already have BuzzFeed, there’s no need for them. https://t.co/yaUQJpLi0M
— Tori. (@peacelovetori8) December 1, 2016