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Celebrity

Everything That Upset the Internet This Week

By Meghan McKenna

Date June 16, 2019

What is the web-o-sphere angry about this week? An extremely successful women’s soccer team, an anti-vaccine actress and a dystopian birthday party held by a young billionaire. Here’s everything you need to know:

Team USA Beats Thailand 13-0 in Women’s World Cup Opener

THE STORY: The United States swept Thailand in game one of the Women’s World Cup on Tuesday. It was the largest margin of victory in either the men’s or women’s World Cup.

THE REACTION:

RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE RAGE: The sportsmanship—or rather, sportswomanship—displayed on the world stage sets a precedent for the young athletes watching from home. At first, I found team USA’s elaborate goal celebrations to be patronizing and distasteful. You respect your opponent by giving your all, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t disrespectful ways to react to success.

Then, record international goalscorer Abby Wambach’s, can to the defense of her former teammates and changed my mind.”For all that have issue with many goals: for some players this is there first World Cup goal, and they should be excited,” she tweeted. “Imagine it being you out there,” she added, before bringing gender politics into the conversation. “This is your dream of playing and then scoring in a World Cup. Celebrate. Would you tell a men’s team to not score or celebrate?”

On that note, here’s a fun fact: the U.S. women’s team scored more goals on Tuesday than the men’s team, who didn’t even qualify last year, scored in the 2006, 2010 and 2014 World Cups combined.

Jessica Biel Comes Out as an Anti-Vax Activist

THE STORY: On Wednesday, actress Jessica Biel joined anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in lobbying California state lawmakers. The pair were advocating against SB 276, a bill that would standardize the process of exempting children from required vaccinations.

According to Jezebel, a staffer who sat in on the meeting says that Biel and Kennedy spoke about their personal belief that vaccines are dangerous and ineffective,

THE REACTION:

RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE RAGE: The anti-vaccination movement, which has been heavily disputed by an overwhelming weight of medical and scientific evidence, has led to the return of many infectious diseases in the United States.

Biel, however, insists that she isn’t anti-vaccine. “This week I went to Sacramento to talk to legislators in California about a proposed bill,” she said on Instagram. “I am not against vaccinations — I support children getting vaccinations and I also support families having the right to make educated medical decisions for their children alongside their physicians.”

Kylie Jenner Throws a Handmaid’s Tale Birthday Party

THE STORY: To celebrate her bestie Anastasia “Stassie” Karanikolaou’s birthday, Kylie Jenner transformed her Malibu mansion into Gilead, the dystopian America in which Margaret Atwood’s novel Handmaid’s Tale and its spinoff TV series are set. Party guests traded in their crop tops for red capes and white bonnets, and sipped on specialty cocktails titled “praise be vodka.”

THE REACTION:

RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE RAGE: Have these girls been watching the same series as the rest of us? Handmaid’s Tale is a disturbing story set in a world where women are stripped of their autonomy and enslaved by men. While it’s disheartening that anyone might think this dark drama makes for a festive party theme—particularly at a time in America where women’s rights are under attack—I don’t think Jenner planned the celebration will ill intent. Those dystopian tequila shooters were entirely tone deaf, but they likely came from a place of ignorance. Hopefully, the backlash woke Jenner up.  

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