People On Twitter Are Remembering The Disgusting Way Quvenzhané Wallis Was Treated When She Became An Oscar Nominee At 9

Something memorable or historic always happens during awards season, and the mistreatment of Quvenzhané Wallis when she was a kid is something that continues to leave a bad taste in people's mouths.

Quvenzhané starred as Hushpuppy in the 2012 critically acclaimed film Beasts of the Southern Wild. The film follows 6-year-old Hushpuppy, her stern father Wink, and their day-to-day life, as he prepares her for an apocalypse while living in a remote delta community in Louisiana.

Quvenzhané was just 5 years old when she initially auditioned for the role, despite the casting call looking for girls between the ages of 6 and 9. The casting team was blown away by her and the talent she possessed at such a young age.

She was just 8 years old when the movie was officially released in theaters. The following year, 2013, Beasts of the Southern Wild was nominated for four Academy Awards, including a Best Actress nomination for Quvenzhané.

That's right, at 9 years old, Quvenzhané became the youngest actor in history to be nominated in that category. She's also the first person born in the 21st century to be nominated for an Oscar.

But along with the excitement surrounding the significant achievement, came unsuspecting negativity and backlash toward Quvenzhané...seemingly for just existing.

Something about Quvenzhané being praised at the 2013 Oscars made Chrissy Teigen write these rude tweets, which have since been deleted.

She then went on to call a child "cocky." People were not amused by her tweets at all, which later prompted Chrissy to issue an apology. This wasn't the first or last time she's apologized for something she's said online.

But the cruelty didn't stop there. To play off of Chrissy's tweets, the satirical news publication The Onion referred to the adolescent actor as a "cunt." Absolutely disgusting!

The fake news outlet was met with immediate backlash for the insensitive tweet. They swiftly deleted the tweet and The Onion's CEO Steve Hannah released an apology on their official Facebook page.

But the hate wasn't only happening outside of the Academy Awards bubble. One of the Academy voters did an interview with the Hollywood Reporter where he explained why he did or did not vote for certain nominees. He revealed one of the reasons he didn't vote for Quvenzhané was because he couldn't pronounce her name.

"I also don’t vote for anyone whose name I can’t pronounce," said the anonymous voter. "Quvez—? Quzen—? Quyzenay? Her parents really put her in a hole by giving her that name — Alphabet Wallis."

He then went on to mention his views on child actors: "The truth is, it’s a very sweet but immature performance from a 9-year-old. I’ve directed children. They probably did a thousand takes and put the best ones together."

Unfortunately, this doesn't even cover half of the way she was bullied and criticized just for being young, Black, and talented, which is why this incident still weighs heavy on people's minds and hearts over a decade later.

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But despite it all, Quvenzhané, who is now 20 years old, continued to keep her head held high. She went on to star in big movies like Annie and 12 Years a Slave, as well as Apple TV+'s popular sports drama series Swagger.

It's beautiful to see her light shining just as bright as it did when she was 9, even when trolls tried to dim it.