It's probably not a good time to be Rebel Wilson.
Wilson received backlash after claiming on "Ellen" that her lead role in the upcoming "Isn't It Romantic?" made her the first plus-size woman to lead a romantic comedy. The problem is that is simply not true at all. She was then called out on social media for forgetting about actresses like Queen Latifah, Mo'nique and, hell let's put some nice icing on that cake, Ricki Lake.
The gist of the matter is this; People are insinuating that Wilson is trying to reduce films with black leads to merely being “black movies,” and not counting them in any kind of legitimate way in terms of historic significance.
Instead of admitting defeat and saying she was wrong, Wilson doubled-down on Twitter by saying, “Yeah, I of course know of these movies. But it was questionable as to whether: 1. Technically those actresses were plus size when filming those movies or 2. Technically those films are categorized/billed as a studio rom-com with a sole lead. So there’s a slight grey area.”
Gulp.
So, Latifah is not a “plus-size actress”? That's news to me. Also, Wilson has no case whatsoever in trying to imply that Latifah was not a lead in romcoms such as "Just Wright"
and "Last Holiday."
A second backlash then ensued after Wilson's rebuttal, which prompted the actress to block a few people on Twitter, some of which happened to be African-American film critics. People are now accusing Wilson of purposely singling out black critics in her block-a-thon Twitter spree. The hashtag #RebelWilsonBlockedMe began trending. There also was no evidence that Wilson had blocked any white critics that were critical of her statements, or at least that's what the detractors are saying.
Also, does Amy Schumer also count as "plus-size"? Hey, don't look at me, I didn't start this.
Edward Berger seems to have settled on what comes next. His Lance Armstrong biopic, starring Austin Butler, is now holding casting calls, with production eyed for January.