It’s a question I’ve been asking myself on and off for years. I don’t get the appeal. A loud mouthed, obnoxious, attention seeking, gossip box; that’s all I see. There is no value added in listening to her trash celebrities, she’s not funny, witty nor clever. Never uplifting. Done absolutely nothing praiseworthy in my eyes.
But here we are, shocked and appalled by her big mouth. Huh? This is what y’all, her viewers, signed up for. This is the bile you’ve supported since her radio days. How do you get to act righteous now?
Best I can figure is that she provides voice to the secret jealousy many people feel towards the successful, attractive, and famous. Why? Because the VAST majority of her viewers know they will never be the successful, attractive, and famous people they giggle at when Williams spits at them.
Williams also represents the worst parts of our culture. That nasty, ignorant and ratchet part of the culture that lowers our collective dignity and makes heroes out of the people we would have once been ashamed to have on the airwaves or our devices.
We once revered class, education and talent. Not so much anymore, because the people who seem to inspire others to be like them are throwing drinks, being loud, getting high, making sex tapes, cheating on their spouses, and picking fights; basically, just acting like fools or talking about those who are acting like fools.
I’m hopeful that the pendulum will swing back to when we aspired to be elite in mannerisms, thoughts and words. When intellect, class and education were the pillars of our cultural foundation.
Williams does not draw us to our better angels nor does she advance our culture. If anything, she’s been a parasite leaching the blood money out of us, the host, while distracting y’all from what’s truly important by tearing down people she doesn’t know for their faults or misfortunes.
Not to mention her own “misfortunes”, I definitely couldn’t muster up any sympathy when I heard about her current marriage’s disintegration. I might entertain it as a bit of Karma.
I’ll guess her die-hard fans will call me a hater for this rant. Eh, it’s not like their opinion actually matters. They watch her show, so I’d say they probably aren’t the best arbiters of good taste. I’m comfortable not being among them.
So we have this media entity who says horrible things, promotes classlessness, revels in disfunction and makes a rack of money doing it so that “average” people feel good about themselves? Is that where we want to be?
Now if you believe her tearful apologies and accept this as just another stumble on her part and not an actual reflection of how vile a person Williams is at the core, then you need to tell me why we need her.
…and please don’t tell me “she’s entertaining.” Or “she’s just doing what others have done.” Or “she’s really a decent person, she just does that for the show.” Or lastly, “it’s just mindless fun, it ain’t that serious.” I don’t care about those fake words, answer me with well-articulated truths and maybe I’ll listen with a critical ear.
I’m pretty sure no one can tell me what’s so valuable about Wendy Williams that we need to keep her on the air, or even speak about her again.
I’m just sayin’ WE are better than this and her. I’ll sure be glad when WE act like it.
Shadez is a writer and commentator on sports, movies, music and culture.
