The rise of President Trump has ushered in a new era of hysteric celebrity commentary, driving everyone from Ashley Judd to Shia LaBeouf to suffer bizarre meltdowns over the president’s policies and general demeanor.
But even if Hollywood is reeling, the celebrity most notorious for behaving erratically has somehow become one of the more sensible political observers in showbusiness.
Though her female peers in Hollywood have lavished the Women’s March with adoration since it happened in January, Courtney Love issued a no-holds-barred denouncement of its high-profile co-chair on Twitter this week, charging her with fraud over a fundraiser she coordinated for an Ohio woman. Love, not known for her couth, tweeted at Linda Sarsour, “You’re a vile disgrace to women and all mankind.” Love also called Sarsour “an anti American fearmongering fraud.”
After throwing those flames, the infamous rocker followed up with a long string of tweets demonstrating a nuanced and well-informed grip of the story behind it, more than holding her own in a battle with Sarsour and her allies.
Love was reacting specifically to Sarsour’s involvement in organizing a fundraiser for Rahma Warsame, a woman who claimed to be the victim of anti-Muslim hate crime. Sarsour subsequently began raising money for the alleged victim.
But reports have cast serious doubt on Warsame’s claims, and this is the issue at the heart of Love’s complaint. In her engagements with others on Twitter, Love even tweeted screenshots of a statement from Columbus police refuting the allegations that a hate crime occurred. “Don’t blame the right,” she tweeted after Sarsour attempted to fight back. “Blame that you did zero research on this fake story but you rushed to take everyone’s money.”
Love framed her efforts to expose Sarsour as a defense of the women’s movement, noting that she’s “worked [her] ass off” her entire life to support women and arguing that the activist is “using fake stories to generate sympathy and collect $$ under the mask of women’s rights and solidarity.”
Love left the debate looking informed and measured. Sarsour, ironically, resorted to Trumpian Twitter insults like, “Thank God I never knew who @Courtney was before today and that was a great thing,” and using quotes to sarcastically refer to Love, an icon of the grunge era, as a “celebrity.”
What does it say about Sarsour that Courtney Love, of all people, emerged from a Twitter battle over her own fundraiser looking like the more reasonable participant?
Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
