Kristen Bell slammed for children's book on 'purple people' instead of actual races: 'This is for white kids'
Kristen Bell has been drawing flak for penning a children's book that promotes 'colorblindness'. The book titled 'The World Needs More Purple People' focuses on a "purple person" who "looks for similarities before differences". People are now slamming Bell for writing the book that refuses to recognize people of color and accused the actor of promoting “colorblindness” rather than acknowledging that people of different races have very different life experiences.
The actress expressed her thought process behind writing the book in a video posted by AP Entertainment. The 39-year-old actress and author said, "The world loves debate, I do, and debate talks about differences. It’s layering difference upon difference upon difference, ‘I think this’, ‘no, you should think this’, it’s just constantly pointing out divisive narratives.”
Bell continued, “Our kids are absorbing all of that and maybe we needed a bit of a road map to show them that it’s actually great to start with similarities first. Hopefully, that will allow kids to have a little bit more of a social identity and be able to see similarities and through that have their mind opened by some people who they thought were different.”
On the release of her book, Bell, who’s mom to 7-year-old Lincoln and 5-year-old Delta, had said purple people ask really great questions, are really silly, work hard and are happy and confident to be themselves. "A purple person", she says, is “someone who just wants to be a little bit better tomorrow than they were today.”
People who've seen the video about Kristen explaining why she chose a "purple person" around which she centered the book have failed to be convinced and they've taken to Twitter claiming that Bell is more focused on "blue lives matter".
"This is for white kids because what the f*** girl @KristenBell ???????? PURPLE?????? Y'all will identify with a f*****g fictional purple person rather than actually interacting with non-white people. F*** you," read one tweet. Another pointed out saying: “You guys will do everything but teach your kids about racism against actual Black and brown people, because reality makes you ‘uncomfortable," while another echoed: “Just...use actual races instead???”
"Piper Perabo is an active activist, and I believe Sarah Paulson is sincere But Kristen Bell Believes Blue Lives Matter," read another tweet. Another tweet read, "Piper Perabo is an active activist, and I believe Sarah Paulson is sincere But Kristen Bell Believes Blue Lives Matter."
“'I don’t see color’, the book,” one Twitter user said, while another added: “‘I don’t see color’ people need to go, be quiet, listen to actual people’s experiences, read some educational pieces instead of writing about nonsense.”
However, there are many people who've come to Bell's aid and don't want her "canceled". "I'm sorry but I'm not letting y’all cancel @KristenBell," read a tweet. "Kristen bell did nothing wrong leave her alone. it's not bc she did a mistake once that everything in her life rotates around that mistake let her enjoy the release week of her book and STFU," said another supporter.