Another day, another internet controversy. The latest kerfuffle involves American Idol winner Maddie Poppe. I know! The sweet singer doesn’t seem capable of ruffling feathers. But ruffle she did.
It all began with liking several tweets. And if you were wondering which side of the political aisle Maddie resides…wonder no more. She’s a republican! Fair enough! However, the tweets Maddie liked weren’t from mainstream conservative thinkers such as Ben Shapiro or Hugh Hewitt. Or not even missives from the right wing minds of FOX news. Nope. When it comes to conservative social media, Maddie appears to be drawn to the conspiratorial.
Here are the tweets that caused a fuss. Screenshots only, of course.
OK then. One can argue over false equivalencies, demonizing and mocking the “other side”, making specious and fact free arguments–and stealing jokes from Donald Trump Jr. to boot! But it wasn’t even the above tweets that blew up Maddie’s timeline! And wow–nobody even mentioned that one of the tweets she liked name checked the notorious Q conspiracy (I’ll get into that in a bit.)
No, it was THIS tweet, which Maddie unliked after the backlash hit. It reads “A female cyclist claims it’s “not fair” after losing the Cycling World Championship to a transgender “woman.” Weird. It’s almost like there’s a biological difference between men & women.”:
The transphobic overtones of that tweet hit some fans hard. By the way–it’s the only tweet that she “unliked.” Her reaction to the backlash was to basically roll her eyes, and like a bunch of tweets from supportive fans. Also blocking. Lots of blocking. No apology–not even a semi-apology of the “apologies to those who were offended” variety. She could have unliked everything before making some excuse. But in interviews Maddie has talked about the importance of staying true to oneself. And that she is. Sticking to her guns, Maddie is.
Also it appears that she may have referred to the OPs 30 followers in a joking way, in a tweet that has since been deleted.
Her boyfriend, fellow Idol alum Caleb Lee Hutchinson defended his gal, but it seems that tweet was deleted too. Also backing Maddie were fellow season 16 Idols Noah Davis and Ada Vox. Maddie’s “crying” tweet above was a reaction to this:
“i don’t like you” pic.twitter.com/8swFRPtxRf
— Noah Davis (@noahdavis50) October 20, 2018
And it was Ada, an out member of the LGBT community who performed in drag on Idol, that fiercely had Maddie’s back.
Hey y’all… @MaddiePoppe is by no means a gay hater or transphobic. Some of you that are going crazy on her for simply liking a tweet need to chill TF out. She is a beautiful person and doesn’t deserve this nonsense for a simple lapse in judgement. It happens to the best of us.
— Stream “Tea Time” ??? (@AdaVox) October 21, 2018
This is Maddie’s very first time dealing with this type of thing. She didn’t know how to react. She just immediately blocked out whatever bad energy was coming her way.
She’s scared and she has every right to be. She will come around when her mind comes together. Give her time.— Stream “Tea Time” ??? (@AdaVox) October 21, 2018
This from Ada, got a few reactions
I honestly don’t think the post that she liked had anything to do wirh transphobia. People are looking too deeply into this. It’s being turned into something it’s not.
— Stream “Tea Time” ??? (@AdaVox) October 21, 2018
Like these:
People are missing the point. When people called her out for doing something wrong, she laughed about it and blocked people. That’s immature and she needs to address the situation differently
— autumn ?????????? (@IHATEWHlTEMEN) October 21, 2018
She sure is acting like a hater…blocking people and not apologizing. Lapse in judgments often reflect the real person inside.
— Steven Simmons Shelton (@steveinarkansas) October 21, 2018
HOWEVER it is important to note, going through Maddie’s timeline, there is a TON of support for her. Many fans are sticking by and defending her–and they are not necessarily conservative.
https://twitter.com/cheyenne_hatin/status/1054089314383118337
Maddie liked or retweeted stuff like this (click on the tweet to read the entire thread):
https://twitter.com/reaganebrown14/status/1053896353083023360
More negative backlash below.
The funny thing about @MaddiePoppe and her fans is that they’re saying she needs love & positivity rn but tell me where was the love and positivity in those tweets??? All those tweets do is belittle & try to invalidate people. Practice what you preach if you can’t take the heat.
— ???Maria-Rose??? (@Katys_Power) October 21, 2018
https://twitter.com/Luke_Bryan_Girl/status/1054091527486529536
So yeah. All this Drama is conveniently happening one week before Maddie drops her first post-Idol single “Keep on Movin’ On”! OK. I’m being sarcastic. Liking controversial tweets on the eve of an important single release–not an idea I imagine her PR folks appreciate.
The last thing! The Q conspiracy. It’s bonker’s y’all. If Maddie actually takes Q seriously, I’ve got nothin’. If you have no idea what I’m talking about check out two great primers from the Daily Beast and VOX. Even most Trumpists aren’t down with the Q.
From the Daily Beast piece:
Plotters in the deep state tried to shoot down Air Force One and foil President Trump’s North Korea summit. A cabal of global elites, including top figures in Hollywood, the Democratic Party, and the intelligence agencies, are responsible for nearly all the evil in the world. And now Trump is going to fix it all with thousands of sealed indictments, sending the likes of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama straight to Guantanamo Bay.
Or at least that’s how the world is going for the believers of QAnon, the complex pro-Trump conspiracy theory that’s starting to having unpredictable effects in real life.
Perhaps Maddie was being “ironic” when she liked that first tweet from “Praying Medic”? IDK.
