Melania Trolls Trump-Hating Actress Issa Rae So Well That Rae May Cancel Show
One of the problems with the left’s reflexive opposition to all things Trump is that they too often allow their hatred of President Donald Trump to force them into positions that are detrimental to their own interests, like opposing more jobs and lower taxes, or defending MS-13 gang members and Islamic State group terrorists.
A Trump-hating liberal actress has now found herself in just such a situation where, in order for her to stand on the principle she fiercely staked out, she will have to cancel her own popular show, as she was just called out and essentially trolled on social media by first lady Melania Trump.
That actress is Issa Rae, creator and star of the hit HBO series “Insecure,” who raved in a recent interview with Glamour magazine about how former first lady Michelle Obama was a big fan of the show. She suggested she’d cancel the series out of spite if she found out the current first lady was a fan of the show as well.
It was pointedly stressed in the article that Rae’s “Insecure” is a show about black people, for black people and written by black people. “If a story line is funny to me, if it’s real to me, if it moves me, then it’s my thing,” she said. “It’s my experience, so no one can take that away from me.”
Rae recalled meeting Obama in 2017 and learning that she was a big fan of the series, having been turned on to it by her daughters, Sasha and Malia.
“It was like talking to my auntie,” Rae said of the former first lady. “It bums me out that I will never have that feeling again of the first family f—ing with us so hard and getting us.”
“If Melania (Trump) said that to me, I would be like, ‘Well, I guess it’s canceled. We’re not making this show. It’s not ours anymore,'” she said.
Set aside for a moment the inherent racism of Rae’s explanation of her program — does anyone think Hollywood and the media would be OK with a show made explicitly for white people, about white people and by white people? — and let’s look for a moment at the stupidity of what she said instead.
It shouldn’t matter to Rae who watches and appreciates her show, regardless of skin tone or political affiliation, and the suggestion that she would spitefully cancel a popular program simply because someone she doesn’t like happens to enjoy it is nothing short of asinine.
Thus, enter Melania Trump, whose director of communications — Stephanie Grisham — took to Twitter on Wednesday to essentially call Rae’s bluff and troll her at the same time.
Grisham tweeted an “Alert” to Rae telling her the first lady “likes your show!”
Alert: FYI @IssaRae, @FLOTUS likes your show! 📺 @HBO @PageSix @glamourmag @theinquisitr https://t.co/qlNh7LmtsU
— Stephanie Grisham 45 Archived (@StephGrisham45) September 5, 2018
The comments in response to Grisham’s tweet are rich, with plenty of Trump haters dismissing the claim that Melania likes the show as untrue or, even more absurd, as some sort of racist effort to bully the black actress — yes, you read that right. A complimentary tweet noting that the first lady is a fan of a TV show is a racist “dog whistle,” or something like that.
Given Rae’s suggestion that she would abruptly cancel her program if she found out Melania Trump liked it — since “It’s not ours anymore” — it will be interesting to see how, if at all, Rae reacts to this tweet from the first lady’s spokeswoman.
Will Rae cut off her nose to spite her face by canceling the series after only three seasons, undoubtedly disappointing plenty of fans who are not the first lady? Or will she back off of her stated anti-Trump stance and continue to make the show despite knowing that — gasp — a white woman named Trump enjoys it?
Rae should be thrilled that the first lady watches her show, even if she doesn’t particularly like her or agree with her, and realize that setting aside differences and embracing Melania Trump solely as a fan of the show could open up an entirely new segment of the population as potential fans, supporters of the first lady who may now check out the show that she has expressed interest in, perhaps even becoming fans in their own right.
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