As we discussed yesterday, Rosanna Arquette got some criticism for tweeting this: “I’m sorry I was born white and privileged. It disgusts me. And I feel so much shame.” Her Twitter account was public at the time, and she got a lot of comments from Trump supporters about how terrible she is for, like, her white guilt. I thought Rosanna’s tweet was unhelpful too, but whatever, I didn’t think people needed to full-on attack her for talking about her privilege. The comments got so bad that she made her Twitter account private. Now she’s spoken to The Wrap about everything that went down, post-tweet, and… I don’t know.
Actress Rosanna Arquette said Thursday the FBI advised her to make her Twitter account private after online critics lambasted her on Wednesday for tweeting that she was ashamed of being “white and privileged.” Arquette, in an exclusive response to TheWrap, expanded on her comments and explained why she is now hiding tweets from anyone that is not among her 90,000 followers. “Yes I’m locked to protect myself I was told by FBI to lock it up,” she said, declining to respond to requests for more detail on the FBI’s role in her decision.
Representatives for the FBI did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment. A Twitter representative did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment on if any users had been punished for comments directed at Arquette.
In her statement to TheWrap, Arquette detailed the “threatening and cruel” online response to her Wednesday tweet. “There are toxic and very vicious people on social media. Threatening and cruel,” Arquette said. “I said yesterday the I am ashamed of the color of my skin. I am privileged just because I’m white. I feel shame. Because of all the violence that is happening in America and other racist countries. I was not raised to be racist. In fact my mother took me to Harlem to integrate and all black nursery school when I was 4. I feel truly desolate at the bigotry. and severe racism that we are witnessing in 2019.”
Rosanna Arquette, who was one of the first prominent individuals to publicly accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct, pointed to the disgraced mogul and a sinister “Boy’s Club” that she said she needed to be protected from. The FBI, Arquette said, compelled her to take her account private.
“On top of being one of the women who came out about [Harvey] Weinstein. The Boy’s Club is bigger than it ever [has been], so the attacks are really actually dangerous right now. But that’s what they want to put me in a state of fear. And I say no. I will not be afraid so I will protect myself and I do have people around me who are ready to protect me if someone goes after me. Don’t f— with me is where I’m at.” In her statement, she also referenced disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who is awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges (he has pleaded not guilty). “We are witnessing the light being shed in the darkest parts of a hidden sick society [–] the selling of children for sex. Epstein is just the beginning. These sick f—- are going down.”
On one side, I feel like the FBI would probably not get involved with Rosanna Arquette’s Twitter account. On the other side, people are absolutely batsh-t these days and it’s more than possible that Rosanna’s tweet brought a lot of nuts out of the woodwork. The FBI and other federal agencies are taking a lot of well-deserved heat for their historic lack of interest in white supremacist terrorists and terrorism committed by white folks and/or Trump supporters. It’s absolutely possible that a prominent actress tweeting about white guilt/white shame “triggered” the wrong people.
Also: “In fact my mother took me to Harlem to integrate and all black nursery school when I was 4.” Like, the problem was never that historically black spaces needed some white faces. Those historically black spaces were created because white folks wouldn’t allow black folks to come into their “white spaces.” “Integration” is not “send one white child to Harlem.” *headdesk*
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I feel confident in saying that all of the Arquettes are nutty. Also, WTH has she done to her face? She looks like a slightly younger Faye Dunaway. Not a goal I would aim for, but hey YDY.
You would be wrong. I follow Patricia Arquette on Twitter and she’s a pretty and ACTUALLY woke person. Unlike her big sister. But who knows…I may open up Twitter and she will have tweeted something tone deaf and vile that may make me eat my words. Like Bette Midler did.
I think they definitely had a more unusual childhood and history, and all went into the entertainment industry, and they are some big personalities.
Someone felt irrelevant and wanted attention. That’s all I get from this.
bingo
” ‘Integration’ is not ‘send one white child to Harlem.’ *headdesk* ”
Amen to this!
This reminds me of a trip to Oakland I took a couple years ago. I am white and had two white colleagues with me, and one colleague was seriously uncomfortable when we stopped for gas, and insisted I go in the mini-mart with her for snacks because “I don’t want to be only white person.”
My other white colleague (a “woke” Bernie Bro type) lectured the uncomfortable colleague, saying, “it’ll be good for you to be the only white person. Then you’ll know how POC feel when they’re the only POC in the room.” The uncomfortable colleague then said, “you’re right. I’ll go by myself. It’s a good learning experience. ” She then proceeded to go and then advertised to everyone afterwards that she’d had the most marvelous “growth.” Bragged about how she learned to check her white privilege by bravely going through the same thing as POC.
I spent the whole trip shaking my head. White people should be working to make sure POC are never alone in the room, not “gaining a sense of understanding” by invading POC spaces for the “learning experience” of feeling like a we “get” POC.
The world is not just Black and White. POC are very diverse. Mexicans have different experiences than African Americas. Asians (in and of themselves are a vast and diverse race) have different experiences than Indigenous people. I hate we all get lumped together.
Me- of course all POC should not be lumped together. I was just trying to save time in my writing.
@ Rapunzel
Oh no I wasn’t suggesting you were lumping us all together, I was just saying in general. My apologies.
She sounds like someone with superficial connections to POC. Regular, real conversations with us can help. She sounds like someone who has POC in her life, but not in any equal relationships, because no one is telling her that she is centering herself in her arguments.
^ This!
I’m asking a question out of my own need to understand and grow. What would have been the better way for her mother to handle the “integration”? I’m not saying that what she did was right. I just want to understand what should have happened instead.
@IWannaUnderstand — I don’t think there’s anything “wrong” with the choice Her mother/parents made about her early childhood ed., but as *always* the choice to change individual circumstances should be coupled with agitation for *systemic* change, or change that affects the largest number of people. Without that same energy for changing laws and cultural values, where one white person goes to nursery school is of little to no value to anyone but that one white person. And I’m not saying that her parents weren’t politically active — from what I understand of Arquette family history (as told by the Arquettes) they were — but that context isn’t given here, and that it isn’t shows Arquette isn’t quite where she thinks she is in terms of fully understanding how white privilege works. Essentially, PA took a non-essential action from her childhood and used it as a performance of white beneficence, rather than talking about real issues or acknowledging the problematic nature of her original comment. It’s a real ouroboros of unintentionally problematic sentiment and statement, but I hope PA uses this incident to actually listen, read, and learn.
@ostio – Thank you so much! That makes perfect sense to me.
I think being ashamed of the color of her skin is going a bit far, but if those are her feelings, then she has a right to them. Unfortunately, when you have social media open to everyone, you attract weirdos. The Internet is a great equalizer. It gives voice to those who should have it, and it gives equal voice to weirdos, freaks, racists, etc. who might not be able to voice their opinions otherwise. If I were famous, I probably would not allow any comments on my Instagram or other accounts. I think some or all of the royal family accounts need to turn off the comments. Once CNN and the Atlantic turned off their commenting functions, it made for a much more pleasant experience on their sites.
I wonder if she was drunk tweeting(?) I can’t believe that, if she was lucid, she would be surprised by the blow-back from her tweet. IMHO – if she really were ashamed of her privilege, she shouldn’t have married a rich, old, white banker five years ago. That doesn’t seem to lean into making a difference for the underprivileged and disenfranchised unless she has taken her privilege and built a home for refugees or something in that area that I am not aware of.
I’m guessing someone sent her a threat, and that’s why the FBI was involved?
I hope this has been a learning experience for her, and she does better in the future. I imagine her heart’s in the right place, but she’s not going about it well. Shame for things we can’t control helps no one, but recognizing one’s own privilege and fighting for equality does.
I was just thinking that the Taylor Swift Vogue cover looks like Rosanna Arquette!
Fer chrissakes, it was 1963 when her mother sent her to the Harlem school! Can’t let the people who did that sort of thing back in the day rest on their laurels or pretend they don’t have to work to today’s standard’s today, but don’t pretend that this wasn’t a very frontline thing to have done in 19 sixty-frickin’-three.
I remember arriving at college in the 80s, making a lot of really nice friends, and then discovering that their families had moved from the town where I lived when it desegregated. Learned young how hella racist white (or in this case, Asian) people can be.