'Matilda' actress took a shot at Philly; Philly (predictably) shot back
Mara Wilson, the cute little kid who played Matilda in the 1996 movie of the same name, has grown up and apparently has some thoughts about Philadelphia.
Wow. She wasn't using that kind of language back then.
She was also in Mrs. Doubtfire and the Miracle on 34th Street remake, the one with Richard Attenborough as Santa. She isn't acting any more, but has a successful second career writing. Her autobiography, Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame hit the shelves in September.
She is also, according to my much hipper colleague Aubrey Whelan, a bit of a Twitter darling.
Wilson expressed distaste for the denizens of Philadelphia about noon Monday, and the City of Brotherly Love wasted no time in responding. Wilson, who apparently has a penchant for taking cracks at America's cities, was taken aback.
The backlash was vociferous and, not surprisingly, frequently profane. Here are a few of the tamer comments.
It goes on like that. Funnier than the rage, though, were the less rage-filled categories of responses.
1) Sympathizers: Wow. A lot of people really have not enjoyed Philadelphia.
3) Sociologists: There were some fantastic attempts to engage with Wilson's comments and come to a better understanding of a city of 1.5 million (in 140 characters or less).
Wilson did some comparing between Philly and New York, and opined that New Yorkers have a lot more to be angry about than Philadelphians. She also attempted to mollify Philly's angry social media horde.
As often happens when people bash Philadelphia, the situation devolved into hours of Twitter outrage, and back-and-forth battles of "who's trolling whom," and "who started it."
For what it's worth, in a 2015 interview with Philly.com Wilson had nothing but nice things to say about the city.
I wanted to ask Wilson when she last visited the City of Brotherly Love and what gave her such a bad impression. But alas, she replied to a request for an interview with...
For the sake of this city's precarious reputation, I was careful to respond politely.