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Just a week ago, the Internet erupted into full-blown chaos after Toronto-based writer Wanna Thompson posted a seemingly harmless tweet critiquing Nicki Minaj’s music…or so she thought. Now, Thompson is opening up in an exclusive interview about how her one tweet turned her life upside down.
Following Nicki Minaj’s performance at this year’s BET Awards, many were questioning her musical direction and her image, among other things. Thompson was one of those people. She took to her personal Twitter account to voice her opinion about Minaj’s music lacking a certain substance that at her age, Thompson felt the 35-year-old should have.
https://twitter.com/WannasWorld/status/1013269990160515072
After the Barbz (Minaj’s legion of fans) severely attacked Thompson online for her tweet, Minaj herself went on the warpath and verbally attacked her via direct message. Things continued to spiral, with Thompson ultimately getting fired from her freelance gig as an unpaid intern for Karen Civil’s website, as Minaj is a client of Civil’s. Reps for the site also claimed the writer violated a nondisclosure agreement by allegedly speaking publicly about an internal chat surrounding the incident.
In her very first interview since the tweet heard ‘round the world, Thompson spoke to the New York Times about how that tweet impacted her life, as well as her daughter.
“I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy,” she said of being physically drained and mentally depleted from the backlash.
Thompson also discussed how, over a week later, she is still receiving threatening, verbally abusive messages on practically all of her social media accounts, her email and even her cellphone.
“If I knew it would get this much harassment and that my daughter would be affected, I don’t think that I would have posted it,” she said. “Every person has a right to defend themselves and react to certain statements. But when you start to insult somebody, you’ve crossed a line.”
As the article notes, these days the celebrity clapback is a celebrated, online practice that is given a forum by numerous social media pages. Fans of certain celebrities are quick to attack anyone for anything they say that is perceived as anything less than praise for their favorite artist, regardless of how mild the comment may be. It gets them attention, and it can get them a like from the star in question.
When you look at Thompson’s initial tweet, she never once called Minaj out of her name or insulted her looks — all of which Minaj did in response:
Therefore it makes sense that her fans would feel so comfortable expelling such vitriol at Thompson, as they’re clearly following the rapper’s lead.
