Julianne Hough's Publicist Is Deeply, Profoundly Aware of Words That Signify Personal Growth
“At the root of activism is a fight against capitalism and the trauma that it cause so many people.” -@juleshough
In a three-slide Instagram post with a grauve background to denote solemnity, Julianne Hough apologized for her participation in the television program The Activist. The Activist, for all you philistines, is a forthcoming America’s Next Top Instagram Activist-style program on CBS. Usher, Priyanka Chopra, and Julianne Hough are slated to judge the contestants as they “work together to bring meaningful change to one of three vitally important world causes: health, education, and environment.”
The announcement of the show was not exactly met with enthusiasm. But Hough has vowed that she was “deeply listening” to feedback. She, or whoever wrote this post for her, hit on just about every single buzzword we as whites have collectively learned via infographics over the course of the last eighteen months.
I know you aren’t reading all of that. So here’s a list of the accredited allyship phrases she used, so you can too:
“Pseudo-activism”
“Tone deaf-like Black Mirror.”
“At the root of activism is a fight against capitalism and the trauma that it cause so many people”
“The show itself felt like a shiny capitalistic endeavor”
“The Oppression Olympics”
“A feeling of insult, dehumanization, insensitivity and hurt”
“The judging aspect of the show missed the mark”
“Many people are just becoming aware that I wore blackface in 2013”
“Wearing blackface was a poor choice based on my own white privilege and white body bias”
“[Blackface] is something I regret doing to this day”
“My commitment has been to reflect and act differently”
“This is a messy and uncomfortable conversation”
“I felt it would help educate, mobilize, and inspire people around the world.”
“The power to effect real change”
I read all of it, and still I’m not sure if Hough’s commitment to listening and learning includes resigning from the show in its praxis.