Maybe it's time for Hillary Clinton to take up a new hobby in 2018 pic.twitter.com/sbE78rA5At
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) December 23, 2017
Originally published on Saturday, the video seemed to have largely fallen throught the cracks over the holiday weekend, but gained traction—and suddenly started attracting plenty of negative attention—on Tuesday as many office workers started heading back to their desks (and back on Twitter).
If you haven't yet watched the video above, watch it now—especially the part where one VF staffer suggests, "Take up a new hobby in the new year. Volunteer work, knitting, improv comedy—literally anything that'll keep you from running again."
Here's a small sampling of the reaction that Vanity Fair's attempt at comedy has unleashed on Twitter in the last 24 hours:
Six New Year's Resolutions for Vanity Fair's Hive Editors: 1) Don't make videos on Ambien 2) Show some fucking respect to the 1st female Presidential nominee of a major political party & the former 1st lady & Secretary of State 3) Learn what funny is 4) Fuck off 5) see 4 6) see 5
— Caissie St.Onge (@Caissie) December 27, 2017
How did no one have second thoughts while they were filming it?
— Jacquie (@After_Words) December 27, 2017
And the winner of the "Worst Idea for a Video Offering Advice to A Woman Who Ran For President," goes to....@VanityFair! ("Take up knitting"?!?)
— Osha Davidson (@OshaDavidson) December 27, 2017
Oh look--@VanityFair highlights how white they are with a bunch of white people(demo that elected Trump)telling @HillaryClinton--the most important female political figure in US history who won the most votes & who was voted for overwhelmingly by POC--to STFU and go away.#Resist https://t.co/eBRRRmsBLW
— Victoria Brownworth (@VABVOX) December 26, 2017
A pretty disgusting piece of trash, attacking someone who's spent their career fighting for children's health care, women's rights, and the list goes on. But hey, let's go after Hillary Clinton instead of focusing on what's happening in our country right now. #CancelVanityFair
— Trapper Graves-Lalor (@Traepischke) December 27, 2017
Let's be clear @VanityFair could've done year-end piece on future of #MeToo or even profiles on female leadership.
— Nicki 🤓 (@nickiknowsnada) December 27, 2017
NOPE! Chose to drag Hillary Clinton & basically told a former U.S. Secretary Of State to sit down & go knit something.#CancelVanityFair
Notice the #CancelVanityFair hashtag? So did former Clinton advisor Peter Daou:
So @VanityFair decided that the best way to end 2017 was to take a repulsive cheap shot at @HillaryClinton, one of the most accomplished women in the history of the United States.
— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) December 27, 2017
Now #CancelVanityFair is moving.
Another Clinton adviser, Adam Parkhomenko, had an idea for a new use for Vanity Fair:
For those that, once again had Hillary's back, this time re: @VanityFair hit 1/ pic.twitter.com/Jl4XhBt7gz
— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) December 27, 2017
The backlash doesn't seem to be dying down today; in fact, Vanity Fair is, as of this writing, a top 10 Twitter trending topic—and more and more tweeters are calling for the magazine to apologize.
Did Vanity Fair suggest that Mitt Romney, John McCain, John Kerry or Al Gore take up new hobbies? Hillary Clinton is a Wellesley and Yale Law grad, U.S. Senator, Secretary of State, and the only female presidential candidate win the popular vote by 3 million. Apologize #Misogyny https://t.co/ripJWFlSMY
— Nancy Levine (@nancylevine) December 27, 2017
Incidentally, compounding the awkwardness for Vanity Fair is the fact that its owner, Condé Nast, recently named Radhika Jones to succeed longtime editor-in-chief Graydon Carter. Jones was set to start her new job on Dec. 11, but she hasn't tweeted since landing the job in November.
I'm honored and excited to succeed Graydon Carter as editor in chief of @VanityFair.
— Radhika Jones (@radhikajones) November 13, 2017
UPDATE: Per the New York Post's Alexandra Steigrad,
According to VF, Jones did not have anything to do with the video—and neither did Carter. It was created during the transition period and it was under the direction of Jon Kelly, the Hive editor. The Vanity Fair spokeswoman said Kelly would not be making a statement, and instead offered a blanket apology: "It was an attempt at humor and we regret that it missed the mark."
