Social Media Mocks Black Women’s Friendships, Turning 2 High-Profile Bonds Into Targets
Updated
Updated · TheGrio · May 28
Social Media Mocks Black Women’s Friendships, Turning 2 High-Profile Bonds Into Targets
3 articles · Updated · TheGrio · May 28
Cynthia Erivo and Gayle King say social media has repeatedly turned Black women’s friendships into ridicule, suspicion and tabloid-style speculation rather than treating them as ordinary human bonds.
Erivo pointed to a November 2025 “Wicked For Good” premiere incident in Singapore, when she instinctively stepped in after a man lunged toward Ariana Grande and was recast online as Grande’s “bodyguard.”
In Variety, Erivo said the mockery fixated on her physique, bald head and presumed role as protector, arguing the reaction exposed dehumanizing assumptions about Black women’s bodies and behavior.
King described a similar pattern around her decades-long friendship with Oprah Winfrey, saying rumors once tied her divorce to false claims the two were secretly gay and that social media now acts as “an accelerator on hate.”
The broader argument is that Black women in public life are boxed in either way—mocked if they show closeness, cast as hostile if they do not—reflecting a wider refusal to recognize their full humanity.
How does mocking Black female friendship online undermine a historically vital source of community and survival?
From historic film stereotypes to modern AI, why does media still profit from dehumanizing caricatures of Black women?
If social media algorithms amplify racial trauma, what systemic changes are required to truly protect users' mental health?