Harry Potter star Emma Watson does not usually ruffle feathers from her social media posts. Despite her fame from her role as Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter franchise, she usually stays under the radar.
The 30-year-old may keep her life private but she can be quite vocal about certain things. Watson is a feminist and she is also passionate about Women’s Rights and issues such as Gender Equality and Time’s Up. The British actress is known for her activism. Watson often uses Twitter and Instagram to voice out her opinion.
Fans of Watson have pointed out that she has not opened up about the recent racism that people in the US are protesting against or the police brutality. Watson remained quiet about the matter even though she has been asked to speak out.
Instead, Watson has been talking about the coronavirus pandemic in retweets and Instagram posts. The actress has a whopping 57.2 million followers on Instagram. Someone posted on Watson’s Instagram page calling for her to speak out about the issue and adding that there is a whole community listening to Watson and paying attention to what she says. The netizen urged Watson to use the platform to help.
The Little Women actress finally caved by joining in Blackout Tuesday. To show solidarity and support, celebrities and regular people have posted a single black square on Instagram. Watson posted three squares, each with three hashtags attached: #BlackoutTuesday, #TheShowMustBePaused, #AmplifyMelanatedVoices, and #AmplifyBlackVoices.
Netizens were not happy with Watson’s posts as they felt she was only contributing to performative activism.
Many also criticised her for uploading White Feminism and not having the same level of outrage for marginalised groups. A Twitter user said that the actress gets 330 thousand likes in 34 minutes but she posted a performative activism post that does not help the Black Lives Matter movement. Using expletives, the user continued, saying that Watson did not use the platform to raise funds when she has a big platform. Watson was also slammed for not doing her research.
According to users, by using incorrect hashtags, Watson and many others like her clog the hashtags, which stops people from obtaining essential details and updates on the movement. Netizens were also frustrated that Watson cropped the black squares she uploaded to fit the Instagram aesthetic. This came across as apparent because the black squares she uploaded came with a white background. A Twitter user said that Watson only cared about the aesthetics of her Instagram page instead of focusing on raising awareness or posting links for donations or petitions. /TISG