Is Olivia Wilde Homophobic and Transphobic? A Look into Her past Controversies
Olivia Wilde has been at the receiving end of a lot of hate recently. The outpour of hate for her on social media, going through Twitter at least, seems to have started right around the time she started a relationship with Harry Styles.
They have a fairly secretive relationship and only recently spoke out about the hate they get online. But not all the flak she gets is from his fans, who do not want her to be dating their precious pop star.
Many people on Twitter have what they call a much bigger and more serious reason to hate on her — her past comments showcasing her alleged homophobia and transphobia, as well as a few other seemingly controversial things.
Is Olivia Wilde Homophobic?
Wilde has not provided people with many instances of apparent homophobia. However, once is enough for the internet to latch on to forever.
During a June 2019 episode of Off Camera with Sam Jones, Wilde went deep into her recent-at-the-time foray into directing movies after years of acting and how she found her journey from in front of the camera to behind. And in doing so, she did something apparently frowned upon by the LGBTQ+ community — she made a comparison of her change in career to a 'coming out of the closet.'
"I almost feel like someone who’s come out of the closet," she confessed to Sam Jones. However, she did not leave it at that; she contextualized her comparison.
"There’s this feeling of honesty about what I really want to do, and it’s a level of comfort that comes from being true to yourself that I haven’t felt in a long time," she added.
While Wilde might have been sincere in her expression of how liberating she found her transition from being an actor to a director to be, the LGBTQ+ community found the comparison insulting and even downright homophobic. And the community mostly took to Twitter to express their frustrations.
Olivia Wilde has been accused of being homophobic and transphobic. (Photo: Olivia Wilde/Instagram)
In their opinion, she, with her comment, invalidated the gay community and made light of something as serious as someone coming out of the closet.
When she made the comparison, she was also promoting her movie, Booksmart, a coming-of-age movie about two female adolescent high schoolers, Amy and Molly, exploring their gender and sexual identities.
The movie was her tribute to the younger generation, who were braver in their explorations of human sexuality and breaking barriers. So, when the movie's lesbian scenes and even the word 'lesbian' were cut from the movie for airline viewing, she was one of the loudest to protest against the censorship.
In another instance, she made a confession about how she almost wanted to be in a lesbian relationship because her "man-eating sex bender" left her lonely and miserable. This was right before she met her now ex husband, Jason Sudeikis.
The LGBTQ+ community found this one offensive because they portrayed her words to mean she thought all lesbian relationships were only "gentle" and "soft." She was accused of generalizing and minimizing the complexities that lesbian relationships have, like any other relationships.
Is Olivia Wilde Transphobic?
Similar to accusations about Wilde's homophobia, the allegations she has faced about her transphobia, too, stem from a single interview from 2011.
That year, Wilde was made Revlon's brand ambassador alongside Emma Stone. And while discussing the brand, makeup, and her realizations about what looked good on her, she, again, made an unsavory comparison during an interview with Style List in December 2011.
Wilde talked about how even though she had "mastered" shadows, liners, and mascara, she still had second thoughts about lipsticks. Then came the controversial thing, which has not been Wilde's first.
"A strong eye and a strong lip is hard for my face. I can go t****y really fast," she said. "It’s true, because I have a really strong jaw. So for me, I just have to be cognizant of the way that it transforms my face."
olivia wilde has mocked pocs, trans and gay people, openly supports misogynists and some of you still think we hate her because we believe she's sleeping with our fav ok — el ?! (@rumIouie) November 6, 2021
The hard t-word's usage got many people mad at her, with tweets about it still popping up now. But there are tweets that also say Wilde looks like the t-word in Revlon's ads and other places.
i will NEVER apologize for hating olivia wilde and i will NEVER ever show forgiveness, she was a GROWN woman making transphobic, homophobic, pedophilic, misogynistic remarks. — emily sees joshua in 13 days (@iheartkithugs) August 22, 2022
To contextualize the word a bit, t****y is now a universally agreed-upon slur whose use media and big corporations alike condemn. Back in 2011, however, the word was still being debated upon — people were not sure whether to consider it a slur, or a re-appropriated slang for unity and pride among the LGBTQ+ community.
The debate that gained big traction in 2010 was only settled around 2017 when media companies and stylebooks declared the word to be offensive and hate speech.
As for makeup-related controversies, she and her make-up artist were called out for photoshopping her Instagram post.
Olivia Wilde’s Apparent Pedophilia and Support of Racism
Other than homophobia and transphobia, the Don't Worry Darling director has also been accused of supporting pedophilia (through dark jokes) and racism.
The prime example people like to use for the former is her joke-tweet from 2013, where she kids about ending up on a sex offender list by just watching children ice skate. She also apparently revers Anthony Kiedis, who has been accused of illegal acts with a minor.
Reasons Olivia Wilde needs to go:
3) Openly proud pedophile Anthony Kiedis even bragged about his raping (he called it sex) a 14yo girl 2 times in his 2016 memoir. Yet Olivia Wilde can't stop praising him for starting her directing career. #timesupolivia pic.twitter.com/qHN1XrSfSC — Uncle Vizzy Says (@VisiblyBi) August 24, 2022
As for the latter, she was (and still is) accused of being/supporting a racist because she defended Ali G's joke about Asian people at the 2016 Oscars. There are also accusations about her blackfishing.
Wilde has not responded to any of these accusations and never might, considering the hate does not stop even when she responds.