UPDATE: Founder of ‘Me Too’ movement Tarana Burke has spoken up in defense of the movement against sexual assault.
On Thursday, talk show host Wendy Williams declared she was “sick” of the movement. In addition to criticizing the movement, Williams claimed allegations of R. Kelly’s sexual abuse are separate from those of the movement. She also said #MeToo didn’t hold much sway within the Black community because “Black people aren’t good at protesting.”
Burke responded to Williams’ remarks on Friday morning.
“I heard what Wendy said yesterday and was disgusted by it. This is why Black women/girls are hesitant about coming forward with their #metoo,” Burke wrote on Twitter. “@WendyWilliams who blame the victim. You really think a 13 y.o. girl is to BLAME for sex w/ a 30+ y.o. man??”

“I tried to hold my tongue, but I can’t. Yes, Wendy said he was sick but pivoted to blaming the parents,” she continued in the thread. “FOCUS – HE IS THE PREDATOR – period. How dare you get on National TV and say his victims can’t say #metoo.”

“It is disgraceful that as wide as your audience is and as many young girls, many Black girls watch your show that you would openly victim blame like you did yesterday,” Burke said. “You are the reason why we can’t make headway in our community around sexual violence.”

Original story: Talk show host Wendy Williams declared she’s somehow had enough of the widespread #MeToo movement against sexual assault on Thursday. Williams’ soliloquy was inspired by the #MuteRKelly campaign aimed at protesting musician R. Kelly who’s been accused of statutory rape and physical abuse of young women.

“The multiple allegations of R. Kelly holding women in his own home, where are their parents?” Williams asked. “This is a whole different thing, it has nothing to do with #MeToo. R. Kelly is just a very very sick man.”

“It’s not going to work,” Williams said of the movement. “Black people aren’t really good at protesting … not since the King march. It’s not going to work.”

Kelly, who was rumored to have married late R&B singer Aaliyah when she was just 15 years old, has garnered a reputation as a sexual predator. In 2002, a video surfaced of Kelly peeing in a young girl’s mouth.

“The #MeToo movement hasn’t affected R. Kelly, because R. Kelly, he wasn’t a #MeToo. Aaliyah voluntarily married him when she was 15 years old,” Williams continued. “And her parents voluntarily let her do it, when she was 15 years old. And that little girl that I saw from my own eyeballs that he urinated on and he had his way with, was there at his house, she let it go down.”

“I’m sick of this #MeToo movement,” the talk show host continued. “I love that people are speaking up for the first time and speaking out and everything, but now…I look at all men like you’re a #MeToo, all of them, all of them, which is not fair.”