I have always loved Goldie Hawn, the cheery Oscar-winning actress (and mother of Kate Hudson) best known for light entertaining flicks like Foul Play, Overboard, The First Wives Club, and one of my all-time favourites, Private Benjamin.
Hawn is now better known for her books and mediation and spiritual journeys, and for her charity work (and for being the mother of Kate Hudson).
Then last week Hawn was speaking on mindfulness at the World Economic Forum in Davos (yes, really) and she tweeted out this…
So the problem with Hawn's tweet about the "wonderful" president of Nigeria is that he has enacted harsh anti-gay laws that have led to violence and gay witch hunts. Gay people have been tortured and imprisoned, and the Human Rights Campagn identified Nigeria's president as one of the most dangerous anti-LGBT politicians in the world today.
The gay internet quickly erupted (not half as much as Beiber being arrested, but still erupted).
Deleting the tweet was expected, and she did. To Hawn's credit she went further than an "oops"… and she didn't hide or make excuses or back away.
A long time supporter of gay rights, Hawn says "I had no idea" and "I was appalled (when I found out)"; she sat down with an interviewer to talk about what she has learned, how "barbaric" Nigeria's new laws are towards gay people, how she was uninformed about the new law and that the photo "had every right to cause an uproar."
She said: "It breaks my heart because I have my own personal feelings about this. This is man's inhumanity to man of the first order… it's more than ridiculous, it's barbaric."
So looking for an upside here, Hawn's misstep and the publicity from it have shed a light on the situation in Nigeria… now will the world listen?
Well done Ms Hawn… now bring out another movie, it's been a decade since the (hysterical) Banger Sisters!
Posts
