Another day in Hollywood, another white celebrity learning how to talk about racism for the first time.
Lili Reinhart has joined the latest roundup of celebrities apologizing for “tone deaf,” if not well-intentioned, mistakes as Black Lives Matter uprisings continue to disrupt cities and suburbs across the nation on a daily basis.
The conflict revolves around a now-deleted Instagram post, in which the Riverdale actress shared a topless photo of herself with a caption that read, “Now that my sideboob has gotten your attention, Breonna Taylor’s murderers have not been arrested. Demand justice.” The reactive furor was immediate and palpable.
Many pointed out that the nature of her photo was insensitive and could easily be construed to minimize the death of Taylor, a Black woman who was shot and killed in her home by police.
Reinhart’s post followed a recent social media trend that has also been hotly debated: Someone will start a post about something seemingly irrelevant or fluffy, and end it with some variation of, “Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor.” Such posts have been labeled as memes that make light of Taylor’s tragic murder, as well as the systemic brutality enforced against Black people by the police.
Reinhart issued an apology on Twitter, writing, “I’ve always tried to use my platform for good. And speak up about things that are important to me. I also can admit when I make a mistake and I made a mistake with my caption. It was never my intent to insult anyone and I’m truly sorry to those that were offended.”
She added in a subsequent tweet, “I’ve tried very hard to be honest on my IGTV lives that I’m still learning and trying to be better. But I understand that my caption came off as tone deaf. I truly had good intentions and did not think it through that it could come off as insensitive.”
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