Modern Family actress Sarah Hyland and fashion magazine InStyle are facing a backlash for an ill-timed Twitter video posted after the Golden Globes ceremony.
As with all award shows, they tend to draw a lot of attention usually for who wins what and what outfits celebrities are wearing. However last weekend’s Golden Globes ceremony was had the whole world watching for completely different reasons.
In the wake of the Hollywood sexual abuse scandals, stemming from the allegations made against Harvey Weinstein, much of the focus was on the #TimesUp campaign. The idea was to raise awareness of the issue plaguing the film and TV industry, in particular the women, showed their support by wearing black.
However, there were those who didn’t show support, such as Blanca Blanco who didn’t wear black on the night, Best Actor in a Musical of Comedy award winner James Franco who has faced accusations of sexual misconduct and Paris Hilton who wore black on the night but has been labelled a hypocrite for saying women who come forward with their experiences seek ‘attention’.
Another celebrity to be called out after the awards ceremony was 27-year-old Modern Family actress Sarah Hyland after she starred in a highly questionable video for InStyle.
Hyland and InStyle were accused of being tone deaf after posting a video on Twitter account of Hyland appearing too inebriated to exit a lift, which she’s handled out of by a much older elevator operator.
In the 12-second clip, Hyland stumbles around while holding onto a bottle of champagne before falling into the clutches of the rather excited lift operator. While video appears innocuous (at best) the timing of the post is very ill-advised.
Particularly when the vast majority of males who have been accused are older white males – who have blamed their accusers for being drunk or looking like they were ‘asking for it’ – you can’t help but feel this video is counterproductive to the #TimesUp and #MeToo campaigns.
Of course, people were quick to air their concerns on Twitter following InStyle’s post, with many describing it as either ‘tone deaf’, ‘inappropriate’, made with ‘bad timing’ or just ‘plain awkward’.
Really? In this climate? You show a young girl – drunk and falling into the arms of a an older man as doors close to give her no escape? Tone deaf much?
— Mabel Michelle (@HappyEyore) January 8, 2018
Why is she allowing a man to touch her inappropriately is this not going against what the night stands for ?☹️
— Rebecca (@Rebeccagoldie1) January 8, 2018
just delete while few people have seen this pic.twitter.com/FgQOrh3CX9
— pilar (@pilarlait) January 8, 2018
Just bad timing, considering the msg they're trying to get across tonight.
— Caitlin Grace (@caitieinfinity) January 8, 2018
Hyland responded to the criticism on Twitter, reassuring everyone her co-star in the video (‘#JohntheBellHop’) was a ‘very nice old man’ and that she was ‘*completely sober*’.
#JohntheBellHop is a very nice old man. FYI. *completely sober*
— Sarah Hyland (@Sarah_Hyland) January 8, 2018
While it’s hard to believe InStyle’s video had any malice or ill intention behind it, you can’t help but feel it was badly timed and perhaps just a little bit more thought and care should’ve been put into the video before being posted.