Most people who see Seth Rogan’s Sausage Party will probably be offended in some way. It’s practically the point of the film. That didn’t stop some social justice warriors from loving it.
SAUSAGE PARTY's "offensive" humor works because it's coming from an authentic "puns and caricatures are hilarious, right??" place…
— Bob Chipman (@the_moviebob) August 11, 2016
But when the uber progressive blog Autostraddle published a freelancer’s positive review of the film, their readers angrily forced them to apologize.
And that they did—in an unintentionally hilarious 2,600 word mea culpa, filled with chat logs, reader mail and a clear window into the minds of modern social justice warriors.
The original piece that was stricken from the site was titled “Salma Hayek Is a Surprisingly Endearing Lesbian Taco in ‘Sausage Party.'” The freelancer thought Hayek’s taco character was a surprisingly nuanced and positive portrayal of lesbians.
The readers, however, were pissed.
“We heard from readers who questioned the consent of the sexual encounter between the taco and the hot dog bun,” the apology read. “We heard from readers who found the taco to be a damaging portrayal of a predatory queer woman.”
Spoiler Alert: At the end of Sausage Party, all the food participate in a giant orgy. Hayek’s taco eats out Kristin Wiig’s hotdog bun—and there is NO affirmative consent on screen.
The senior editor writing the apology, Heather Hogan, was incensed by her mistake. Not only did she let a white writer write about Latinx experiences, but Hogan, a white ally, did nothing to stop it.
“I was blinded by my own whiteness existing inside a system of white supremacy,” Hogan wrote. “I must do better.”
She assured readers that she normally heavily polices opinions on the site, like with their Orange is the New Black reviews. “I personally edited every review so I could make sure the opinions voiced by our white writers were in line with the voices of black writers.”
For the sake of transparency, Hogan published the chat logs where the editorial team discussed publishing the heinous wrong think opinion. Some highlights include:
“heather: i hope it’s not transmisogynistic. i went through ten pages of google results and tumblr and didn’t see anything about transphobia or transmisogyny”
and
“Yvonne: like people in our community can critique the hell out of it
and pick it apart
heather: yes
Yvonne: because it’s meant for stupid fucking men”
Hogan assures readers that she and the rest of the mostly white editorial staff at Autostraddle will continue to strive for betterment and keep dissenting opinions out of their safe space.
“We’re not there yet. In fact, we will never get there because the work will never be done… I will redouble my own efforts to unpack my role in the systemic oppression of people of color and to check the ways in which I benefit from that system.”
Follow me on Twitter @William__Hicks.
