Parody newspaper The Onion apologized today after calling 16-year-old human rights activist Malala Yousafzai a "cunt" on its Twitter feed.
The Pakistani native was a favorite contender to win a Nobel Prize this year for promoting women's education in Islamic countries. That same work made her a target of the Taliban, which attempted to assassinate her last year with a bullet to the head.
This morning the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that the award would instead go to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), a snub The Onion thought was ripe for humor:
"So Malala didn't win the Nobel. Anyone else think it's because she's a giant cunt?" it tweeted.
Almost immediately after posting, millions of Twitter users flooded the paper with their outrage and it was forced to issue a quick but trite apology.
"One of our social media interns accidentally posted a joke we wrote instead of sending as a direct message," said an Onion editor in a statement posted on the group's website. "We hired her because she was really hot, but I guess we should have looked for some brains too. Our fault."
Frat Boy Humor
Today's events call to mind a similar incident earlier this year when The Onion used the same word to describe 7-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis, who was nominated for an Oscar for her work in the film Beasts of the Southern Wild.
Although Wallis never commented ,Yousafazi was asked about the joke today in an interview.
"My only problem was that it wasn't funny," she explained to CNN. "Humor is a very important part of discourse in a democratic society, and public figures like myself are legitimate targets of satire.
"But calling me filthy names isn't satire. It doesn't comment on my beliefs in any way. It's simply misogyny dressed as comedy. And poor lazy comedy at that."
So Malala didn't win the Nobel. Anyone else think it's because she's a giant cunt?
— The Onion (@TheOnionUSA) October 11, 2013
Several former Onion writers, however, have said they are shocked and morally appalled that a parody newspaper would apologize for a joke. Franz Liebkind, a former Onion writer and current sandwich artist at a Chicago-area Subway, says he's indignant.
"Don't you get it?" he laments. "It's because she has a vagina! I mean she achieved something, but at the end of the day she still has a vagina. Come on, that's comedy gold!
"And it was so politically relevant too. Really says something about the world. It's a crying shame. If you silence The Onion who's going to hold the powerful to account through intelligent, urbane satire?"
