Debra Messing slammed for sharing anti-Tara Reade blog post, deletes tweet after backlash
TV actress Debra Messing deleted an anti-Tara Reade tweet on Saturday, May 2 after facing lots of backlash.
The 'Will & Grace' star was forced to delete a tweet that suggested that Joe Biden accuser Tara Reade "stole from a non-profit."
Reade had earlier accused the presidential hopeful of sexual assault. Biden's former Senate aide called out Messing and said her post which linked to a blog post by Brian & Eddie Krassenstein was "slander" and "untrue."
Many other social media users rushed to Reade's defense with regards to Messing's tweet with one user accusing her of "shaming survivors." In March, Reade had come forward to allege that former Vice President had sexually abused her when she worked for him around two decades ago when she was 29.
Messing's tweet read, "Biden Accuser, Tara Reade, Allegedly Stole from Non-Profit Organization" and shared the Medium blog post. The post had sparked a lot of backlash with journalist Katie Halper writing, "'This has been debunked and you're quoting people who have been permanently banned from Twitter."
Another journalist, Glenn Greenwald, chimed in, "Gee, I wonder why a woman might be reluctant to come forward with allegations against a powerful male Democratic politician. Who would watch what Democrats are doing to Tara Reade and even think about coming forward with similar allegations ever again? The message being sent could not be clearer. It's like watching a bloodthirsty mob. Way closer to #DemeanWomen than #BelieveWomen."
Social media users also weighed in on Messing's comments and called her out for the same.
One such user wrote, "This is disgusting to post. Tara is a human being and deserves to break her silence without being dragged through the mud and lied on." A second user added, "At this point, Debra Messing is vying for Alyssa Milano’s position of useful idiot shaming survivors."
"Dems like Messing are why the Democratic Party has been in a downward spiral for decades," a third social media user wrote. "I reported Debra Messings tweet as harmful to someone else. As an advocate for survivors, I see this all the time but for Ms. Messing to use her platform for slandering a survivor, it’s disgusting!" shared a fourth.
Reade herself has slammed Democrats for their "hypocrisy" and revealed that she has received a lot of online abuse since making the accusation. While speaking to Fox News on Saturday night, she revealed that "creepy" messages were being left for her amid the abuse she is facing after her claim against Biden.
"I find it astounding - the hypocrisy that Democrats are talking about women being able to tell their story safely. I'm a Democrat, a lifelong Democrat, but yet here I am trying to talk about my history with Joe Biden and I'm just the target of online harassment," she said.
She also spoke about the treatment of Anita Hill and said it had delayed her in coming forward with her allegations. "I really believed Anita Hill and I thought she was treated badly. I think a lot of women felt the same way. They were watching that, that were professionals, you know, I was a young professional at the time."
"And I didn't like the way Joe Biden dealt with her, but I also didn't like how she was dealt with in general, right? And what it did was that it made us more silent. What it did was show us was, 'Okay when you try to go up against this, this is basically what you're gonna face. So it was an example of... a deterrent," she concluded.
