The Star Wars: The Force Awakens parade marches on, even in 2016, thanks to the profound rudeness of New York Post critic Kyle Smith. In a December 30 column titled “If Carrie Fisher doesn’t like being judged on looks, she should quit acting,” Smith said, well, exactly what the title would imply — plus took digs at Fisher’s writing career. And then Fisher responded, as Fisher is wont to do.
Fisher’s responses came via Twitter, a platform that Fisher wields more masterfully than most other celebrities. (Twitter also encouraged Smith’s original column, as it’s where Fisher originally expressed her frustrations with Hollywood’s demands for women to be beautiful.)
In Smith’s column, he goes so far as to say that Fisher and other attractive women should be grateful that they were able to benefit from their looks for so long. It’s amazing that any critic would bother to comment on something so obviously sexist — even at the Post — but it’s even more amazing that Smith would take on Fisher, who was guaranteed to respond in one way or another. Which is probably, in the end, what all of this was about: just a way to get Kyle Smith’s name in headlines all over the Internet.