The Week on TwitterTopical

The Week on Twitter | Skittles, Brangelina, & the Emmys

By Jade Hayden

This week, Angelina Jolie filed for divorce, the Emmys were very diverse, and Donald Trump Jr was racist. The Ploughing Championships also took place, and some people won some prizes, probably.

#TrumpJr compares refugees to popular confectionery product in latest racist claim #Skittles

This week, a member of the Trump family was racist. This in itself is not news, but a regular occurrence; one we have come to expect these days, as we roll our eyes and sigh and casually copy and paste the latest bigoted Twitter installment into WordPress alongside an brief paragraph describing the tweet’s context that confirms, yes indeed, the Trumps are quite racist.

The Trumps are quite racist.

This week, Donald Trump Jr posted the above meme on Twitter. It is offensive because it suggests that some refugees are out to kill you and therefore all of them should be avoided – or in this case – not allowed into your country. It is inaccurate because it claims that Syrian refugees are arriving at our borders with the intention of attacking us, instead of, y’know, saving their families lives. It annoyed a lot of people because memes are meant to be fun, and this is not fun, it’s racist.

Following the backlash Trump Jr received for his post, he took to a press conference during the week to confirm that the meme was just a “simple metaphor” for the issue, and that anyone who was offended was looking for a hidden subtext that did not exist.

Skittles have refused to provide a lengthy statement concerning the tweet, as they do not want the post to appear as a marketing ploy.

This year’s #Emmys gives us lots of winners and even more diversity

Sunday evening saw the 68th Emmys hit our screens. It was an exciting affair because lots of good actors were there, and they all looked great, and they won some awards for being good at their jobs, and Leslie Jones posted a selfie with Mr Robot star Rami Malek asking him to find her hackers, and it was great. The 68th Emmys was also exciting because it was not the Oscars, and 98% of the nominees were not white.

This year’s Emmys was praised highly for the diversity of its attendees and winners. Among those nominated for trophies were Idris Elba, Tracee Ellis Ross, Cuba Gooding Jr, Aziz Ansari, Kerry Washington, and Viola Davis. Many of this year’s winners also used their speeches as opportunities to emphasise the importance of diversity in popular culture, and the significance of adequate representation in the media.

Speaking alongside Aziz Ansari upon their win for best comedy writing, Master of None writer Alan Yang brought attention to the severe lack of (non-offensive) Asian-American representation in the US. During his speech he stated that there are “17 million Asian-Americans in this country and there are 17 million Italian-Americans. They have The Godfather, Goodfellas, The Sopranos (…) We got Long Duk Dong. We have a long way to go.”

A full list of Emmys winners and nominees can be found here.

https://twitter.com/theCheerBook/status/777990808477790208

Ploughing Championships 2016 gets underway #Ploughing16

Another year, another prize for the best plougher. Or so I assume that’s how the Ploughing Championships go. Twitter’s coverage of this year’s event would suggest that there isn’t actually a whole lot of ploughing involved. Instead, people simply get together in a big field, look at animals, and watch Nicky Byrne talk for a bit.

Regardless of what the Ploughing Championships actually entails (it’s an exhibition and agricultural trade show that does indeed involved some ploughing and winning, I checked), a lot of people made the trip down to Offaly this week to view some farming equipment, get some food, and just have a generally nice time.

https://twitter.com/nbshow2fm/status/778161757336530944

Angelina Jolie files for divorce from Brad Pitt #Brangelina

On Monday, it was reported that Angelina Jolie was set to divorce her husband of two years Brad Pitt. This sent many people into a flurried state of mourning due to the fact that they had grown up watching their beloved #Brangelina blossom into a perfect Hollywood romance over the years, that they now had no reason to believe that true love actually exists, and that their copies of Mr & Mrs Smith would forever remain untouched from this day forward.

According to a statement released by Jolie’s lawyer, the couple were experiencing “irreconcilable differences,” and that the divorce was necessary for the “health of the family.” Pitt followed with a statement of his own where he told People magazine that he was saddened by the decision, but that the well-being of the couple’s children was paramount.

Since the news of the split broke this week, the internet has been awash with rumours concerning the possibility of Pitt’s infidelity. According to a number of supposedly credible sources that wish to remain anonymous, Jolie learned that her husband was having an affair with Marion Cotillard, his co-star in World War 2 movie Allied which is set to be released later this year. However, Cotillard published her own statement on Instagram on Wednesday night, saying that she had to speak up as the “whirlwind news” was affecting her loved ones. She denies any involvement in the split.

https://twitter.com/lindseyweber/status/778348899442364417

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Jade Hayden 144 posts 0 comments

Jade Hayden has an MA in journalism, a degree in English, and a house rabbit who sleeps in her bed sometimes. You'll often find her wearing glasses, fixing her fringe, and complaining about the amount of time she spends on public transport. Jade is also the editor of HeadStuff's topical section, and she'd love if you sent your submissions over to [email protected].

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