When Jennifer Lawrence broke her silence in Vanity Fair about the theft of her personal photos, she brought personal perspective that the issue sorely needed. She called the situation what it was, “a sex crime,” and she pushed the conversation about how crimes like this should be discussed into a positive, and for some, hard-to-hear direction.
On her October 8 show, Wendy Williams did the opposite of that.
During the #HotTopics portion of her show, Williams decided to weigh in Lawrence’s Vanity Fair quotes, and her sentiments were in-line with some of the internet’s uglier responses to the hacking.
Williams’ issue with Lawrence’s statement mostly stemmed from the fact that the actress condemned everyone who looked at the photos online, saying “Anybody who looked at those pictures, you’re perpetuating a sexual offense. You should cower with shame.”
Related: One Woman Tells Us What It Really Feels Like When Your Nude Photos Leak Online
The daytime host went on the defensive, having admitted to seeking out the photos, and essentially saying that Lawrence no longer has a say whether it’s all right for people to look at her stolen photos. “It’s not your choice, it’s in the cloud, and I’ve looked several times,” Williams said. “So I guess I’m disgusting for looking?”
Well, yeah, she is. That’s kind of the entire point of what Lawrence was saying.
The violation of the crime was never limited to the hacking itself. Jennifer Lawrence never told anyone except for whomever the photos were for that they could look at her naked body. And she definitely never gave Wendy Williams the okay.
It’s what makes the hackers so disgusting. Not only did they steal something private from Lawrence, but they gave people like Williams faux permission to look at her without consent.
And no, this isn’t something that will go away if Lawrence stops talking about it, as Williams suggests. The fact that Williams is so willing to openly admit to looking is why the discussion needs to happen.
Just because something exists on the internet doesn’t give everyone permission to gawk at it, which is a hard truth to accept because there’s obviously going to be curiosity and it makes everyone culpable. But it’s the reality of this terrible situation, and as our lives exist more and more in the online realm, it’s something we need to accept.
For information and resources on how to prevent – or deal with – a hack, read more at A Thin Line.
Kevin P. Sullivan
Writer/editor for MTV. If it involves cowboys, spies, or hitmen, I’m there. All three would be ideal.
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