Tiffany Haddish has been calling up her haters
In a new profile, Tiffany Haddish says she's been paying for information on her trolls and using it against them
Aux News Tiffany Haddish
The new Tiffany Haddish profile in The Los Angeles Times covers a lot of ground—past trauma, sexual assault, sobriety, infertility, and more—but nothing will raise eyebrows more than Haddish’s admission that she occasionally calls up her haters. This comes after she claims she’s “working with a therapist to learn how to set better boundaries.” Apparently, those are professional boundaries (turning down the occasional project, for instance), and not personal boundaries, like creating a fake Instagram account to argue with online trolls.
Haddish has faced backlash in recent years, most prominently after a child sexual abuse lawsuit was filed against her and comedian Aries Spears over inappropriate comedy sketches filmed in 2013/2014. Though the lawsuit was dropped, the reputational damage was done; Haddish says she’s blocked the phrases “setback,” “pedo,” and “not funny” on Instagram. If blocking some words or accounts was the extent of it, that might indeed qualify as normal and healthy boundary-setting behavior. Given the extreme nature of some of the hate she’s received, it’s also sort of understandable that she hired a digital forensics analyst to research where her death threats were coming from (75% were apparently bots in Malaysia and Iran, “which made her feel better”).
But things get dicey when Haddish reveals she has an Instagram alter ego named Sarah who will “destroy” haters by “deploying details from their personal lives.” Haddish says, “I’ve learned how to find people’s information—like I pull up the credit report, police records. You can do that for $1.99. Sometimes, I get so mad that I’ll get they phone number and I’ll just call them.”
The comedian continues, “Oh, I have called people, honey. They be shocked that I called. They’ll be like, ‘I can’t believe you even saw that.’ You did a whole video, [bitch]! You made a full, five-minute video! On the internet, people think they can just say whatever and you not gonna say anything. I try my best not to, but I’m a human being.”
Sure, it’s human to want to defend yourself from attacks, no one can blame Haddish for that. It’s just that what she’s describing sounds a little extreme, and perhaps not a very good use of her one wild and precious life. It’s not particularly fair that celebrities have to deal with a tidal wave of scrutiny at all times, but conventional wisdom says not engaging with the haters is the best course of action. The block button (or how about the “delete app” button?!) might be a better way to go here!
27 Comments
If you don’t want people to call you out online, don’t put yourself out there. It’s as simple as that. it is the price you pay for celebrity. She put children in a sexually questionable position. She supported a domestic abuser. She supports Israel. She has a long history of basically just being a bitch and a pain in the ass to work with. Fuck her.
And a couple DUIs to boot! In a two year span! Why isn’t she canceled 🙁
Hey, if you wouldn’t feel comfortable saying it to the person’s face, why say it online? If posting is the only way you feel any sort of power or control, you gotta find a constructive hobby. Me? I build ships in bottles and post like a human virus.
The irony of you writing these words online is rich…
I don’t believe her, sounds like pure drunken bullshit and wishful thinking. Who the hell answers calls from unlisted numbers?By all means, find me and give me a ring to prove otherwise!
Off the top of my head, I can think millions of Americans who dumber shit on the daily than answer calls from unlisted numbers.
There are people who still answer their phones, sure. I’m not sure how much overlap there is between these mostly older people and people trolling Tiffany Hadish online though. On another note, I’m not really clear on how calling someone up and reading them their credit report or criminal history is revenge. Maybe if you posted it for others to see, but presumably the person already knows they’re an ex-con with poor credit?
“working with a therapist to learn how to set better boundaries.”I’m not sure “calling up people who trolled you online and yelling at them” qualifies as “setting better boundaries.”
I’m not sure “calling up people who trolled you online and yelling at them” qualifies as “setting better boundaries.” It could though – depending on what her FIRST impulse to deal with trolls would have been.
Now I’m thinking about her character from Bad Trip and wondering if that was, in fact, a documentary.
depending on what her FIRST impulse to deal with trolls would have been.
“Setting better boundaries” also seems like a way of describing your personality problems as if the problem was everyone else.
If you meet one arsehole…
Her episode of the Conan Needs a Friend podcast is hilarious.
“I try my best not to, but I’m a human being.”Same.
she has always come across as a little unstable…trying to blackmail or destroy your trolls is not healthy, just block
maybe don’t be a weirdo who is pro genocide and just lay low for several months if you truly are innocent
Social media was a mistake.
I honestly kind of love this. I don’t think the world of Haddish, but this improves my estimation of her a little. Like Buzz Aldrin punching that idiot, a lot of these little parasocial shits have never had anyone abruptly check their behavior. Calling them up and telling them it cost a few bucks just to get their number, and she has a whole lot more than a few bucks in the bank might cool their behavior a bit.
Right? I mean, aren’t we all tired of the edgelords? About time someone turned it around. Nothing else has worked.
Reminds me of a story I read about Frank Sinatra, there was some paparazzo that was aggressively invasive, and he hired a team of photographers to follow him around and take pictures.
And then there was that time he could a female reporter a hooker and the entire nation of Australia went on strike against him. And then he lost a drinking match with a future Prime Minister and had to apologise to the hooker.
Yeah I dunno, I’m whatever on Haddish but I’m extremely fine with this. At least she’s not wasting her “one wild and precious life” writing dumb bullshit for a zombie ninth-tier pop culture website.
Imagine being a commenter on that website
I know! What a bunch of losers
She should just call Jason Sudeikis. He’s apparently available to go to great lengths to track people down and confront them about their tweets.
75% were apparently bots in Malaysia and Iran, “which made her feel better”
Oh yay, only 25% of the death threats are actually real.
result.