7 "Feminist" Celebs Who Have Been Called Out For Bullying Other Women

Certain ideological perspectives that deal with the distribution of power are inherently Marxist at their core, such as radical race activism, through channels like Black Lives Matter, or feminism. When you understand the general concept of Marxism and how other movements use its framework, you’ll see a pattern start to form where what you once thought was ideologically in line is simply not progressive enough. 

This is how politically unthinkable ideas can become mainstream; the Overton Window is constantly shifted once the norm has been established. You can also think of it like goal posts that just keep getting moved further and further away from what would have originally scored you perfect points. But what am I going on about? A recent scandal was made public when singer Lizzo had a lawsuit leveraged against her for a slew of accusations that called into question her identity as an outspoken black, body-positive feminist. 

She’s not the only one, however, as many of progressivism’s loudest voices are actually hypocritical and just hop on the bandwagon for whatever movement is currently trending. The feminist movement is constantly eating itself alive, and while we here at Evie certainly don’t support cancel culture, it’s pretty fascinating to observe the in-fighting.

1. Lizzo

Though the shocking accusations appear to just keep rolling in, the queen of the body-positivity movement is officially being eaten alive by her very own. Three former dancers (Crystal Williams, Arianna Davis, and Noelle Rodriguez) alleged that the pop singer engaged in sexual, racial, and religious harassment, fostered a hostile work environment, subjected team members to false imprisonment, and more. 

The recently publicized lawsuit described in vivid detail how the dancers were forced to watch and even participate in sex shows during tour, were mocked for virginity, and even body-shamed by the “Big Grrrl” herself. 

What’s more – Lizzo, an outspoken advocate for movements like Black Lives Matter who once said that everyone should do “one act of anti-racism every day” as “the new bare minimum,” allegedly created a hostile work environment for the black members of her team, while the non-black members were not given the same criticisms and generalizations.

Lizzo broke her silence on the lawsuit by stating on Instagram that the stories were sensationalized, insisting that she would “absolutely never criticize or terminate an employee because of their weight.” But, netizens noticed that Beyoncé recently removed Lizzo’s name from a list of female celebrities in a performance of her song “Break My Soul (Queen’s Remix).” 

In addition, filmmaker Sophia Allison – the director of Lizzo’s planned, upcoming documentary – walked away from the production because of how “arrogant, self-centered, and unkind” Lizzo was. Allison even went as far as to say she “felt gaslit and was deeply hurt” by how Lizzo treated her with disrespect.

“My movement is my movement. When all the dust has settled on the groundbreaking-ness, I’m going to still be doing this. I’m not going to suddenly change. I’m going to still be telling my life story through music,” Lizzo said in a 2019 interview with Allure. “And if that’s body-positive to you, amen. If that’s feminist to you, amen. If that’s pro-black to you, amen. Because ma’am, I’m all of those things.”

Since this scandal broke, Redditors have unearthed several instances where the pop singer has demonstrated inappropriate behavior with other celebrities. For instance, in an interview with Andy Cohen, she shared her (allegedly kidding) sexual fantasy with Chris Evans, saying, “Here’s my scenario. He’s naked in the green room, and he has body shots on his chest, and I walk in, and I slowly just suck them off.”

She also said that if she were to collaborate with Korean pop stars BTS, she didn’t know if she could “make it through the studio session without having sex with all of them.” Again, she caveated by saying that she was kidding, but time after time, she has publicly sexualized other artists. Artists who are overly confident in their own sexuality, like Lizzo, may not realize just how extreme their comments are, but that’s indeed how what one person perceives to be a joke becomes an uncomfortable exchange, or worse, sexual harassment. 

2. Demi Lovato

Former Disney starlet turned pop icon Demi Lovato has been called out many times for being bitter toward other women. When fellow singer Zendaya was given her own Barbie doll, Lovato tweeted at the company to ask them if she could model for a “curvy” doll. This tweet drew controversy from fans who felt that she was “jealous of Zendaya’s success” or that she just wanted attention.

That wasn’t the first time Lovato had stirred the pot within the community of female pop singers though. When Taylor Swift donated $250,000 to Kesha for legal funds in her fight to terminate her contract with alleged rapist and abuser Dr. Luke, Lovato quickly tweeted that Swift should “take something to Capitol Hill or actually speak out about something” and then she would “be impressed.” Lovato, however, insisted that she didn’t “shade Taylor” and even attempted to call out Swift for performative feminism.

Then, around the same time as news broke that Lovato and pop star Selena Gomez were no longer friends, despite having been in the industry together since they were kids, some social media users alleged that Lovato was using a covert Instagram account to cyberbully Gomez. US Weekly, however, reported that there was no beef between the two singers.

Lovato has called out other feminists who she claims “don’t do the work,” but recently, she herself has been called out for regressively reducing women to objects for sexual pleasure in her new (and rather raunchy) song “Swine.” Furthermore, in the promotion of this new song, Lovato dehumanized women by using the term “birthing people.”

3. Chrissy Teigen

In May 2021, Courtney Stodden broke the news that model Chrissy Teigen had bullied her on Twitter. According to Stodden, Teigen told her to “take a dirt nap” when she was a teenager and even hopped into her private DMs and encouraged Stodden to kill herself. 

In response to Stodden making these vicious messages public, Teigen posted her own apology thread on Twitter about how “sorry” she was to let her fans down and claimed she would “forever work on being better” than she was “10 years ago, 1 year ago, 6 months ago.” Stodden accepted the apology in an Instagram post, but wrote that Teigen still had her blocked on social media.

These bold, brutal jabs at Stodden eventually drove Teigen to leave Twitter and take a stab at sobriety to do “the work” on herself, but Teigen then admitted to also cyberbullying celebrities such as Lindsay Lohan and Farrah Abraham.

In January 2011, Teigen poked fun at Lohan’s past self-harm behaviors, tweeting, “Lindsay adds a few more slits to her wrists when she sees emma stone,” and commented on Abraham’s sex tape, tweeting, “Absolutely sickened at the fact that idiot teen mom commissioned her own sex tape and is pretending to be confused/distraught. EFF YOU.”

Whether or not you personally feel that Abraham was a “whore” for her sexual behavior, as Teigen so kindly put it, a “feminist” icon with a platform as large as Teigen should ideally conduct herself with a bit more decorum online. Ultimately, it shows how some celebrities may truly just be feminists in name only.

4. Olivia Wilde

Last summer, actress and director Olivia Wilde was outed for allegedly not being the feminist icon she has made herself out to be. On the set of her film Don’t Worry Darling, Wilde was caught on camera (a video made public by actor Shia LeBeouf) referring to award-winning actress and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire Hellen Mirren as “Miss Flo” in a patronizing manner. This leaked video was just one of many messy rumors surrounding the promotional tour, such as how Wilde cast, fired, and then re-hired LeBeouf despite the firing being based on how the actor’s past abusive misconduct made co-star Florence Pugh feel, or how Pugh also felt unhappy with Wilde starting a relationship with pop singer Harry Styles on the film set.

Columnist and TV personality Meghan McCain called Wilde out for being a “superficial feminist” at the height of the drama. Other, more left-leaning commentators added that Don’t Worry Darling was “peak white feminism.” All the while, Wilde herself has gone on the record urging women to “keep fighting through the hellfire” of patriarchy within the entertainment industry and beyond it. 

We may never know the truth behind the on-set rumors, but one thing is for sure: Wilde claims to be unequivocally supportive of women, yet she also painted the entire pro-life movement as being “the ugliest, most depressing element of our culture.” If you’re a woman who wants to protect innocent life, perhaps you’re not worthy of Wilde’s brand of feminism.

5. Ellen DeGeneres

Trailblazer for gay representation and emblem of generosity on television, TV personality Ellen DeGeneres has been accused several times of toxic – even misogynist – behavior. Nikkie de Jager, famously known for her YouTube channel NikkieTutorials, said that she went on Ellen “expecting a Disney show but got Teletubbies after dark.” She had allegedly been greeted by an angry intern and wasn’t even greeted by DeGeneres prior to going on the show.

Back in 2019, actress Dakota Johnson sat down for an Ellen interview, and within mere moments, the host demanded an answer for why Johnson didn’t invite her to her birthday party. DeGeneres made comments about Johnson not liking her – which Johnson denied – and ignored the actress’s assertions that she had indeed invited the talk show host to her birthday party. This wasn’t the first combative exchange between the two. Once, Johnson rebuked DeGeneres during an interview for interrupting her, saying, “Aren’t you supposed to let people talk on this show?”

DeGeneres has also had some other questionable moments on her talk show, such as peer pressuring Mariah Carey to reveal her pregnancy. Pregnancy, especially in its early stages, is a very intimate matter that many women choose to keep private. It’s estimated that 26% of pregnancies end in miscarriage, and when you’re undergoing bodily changes, you may understandably feel uncomfortable broadcasting that to the world – especially if you’re constantly being papped.

But, during Carey’s interview with Ellen, the talkshow host poked at then-recent tabloid speculation about the singer’s pregnancy by bringing out a bottle of champagne. She gave Carey the option of drinking it to prove she wasn’t pregnant, or she could refuse to drink it, therefore proving that the rumors were true. Carey refused to drink the alcohol, and as a result, DeGeneres forced Carey to divulge more than she was ready to. Sadly, Carey miscarried her unborn child just a few weeks after her talk show appearance.

There have been many more cases that allude to the host being cold or aggressive, such as how some have alleged they were instructed not to look her in the eye. DeGeneres has been accused of fostering a toxic workplace, with staff asserting that the talk show host was very different from her on-camera persona once the cameras stopped rolling. These allegations are in total opposition to DeGeneres’s catchphrase: “Be kind to one another.”

In July 2020, DeGeneres apologized for this “toxic” behavior and said that she would be “committed to ensuring this does not happen again.” In what may come across as an empty apology, which is not uncommon for feminists and other social justice types, DeGeneres said that she “learned a lot” but then went on to say that she trusted this scandal “had to happen.”

6. Meghan Markle

Former Duchess Meghan Markle most notably got her start in the media spotlight as a briefcase model on Deal or No Deal and then as an actress in Suits. Despite having come up from more “humble” beginnings before snagging herself a royal beau and despite her “girl boss” feminist self-branding, Markle has been outed as having narcissistic tendencies toward others – especially other women. In her book titled Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown, writer Valentine Low shared that several female staffers to Markle admitted to her how Markle tears people down.

One female staffer alleged that when she shared a plan with Markle, the former duchess ripped her a new one in public, saying, “Don’t worry. If there was literally anyone else I could ask to do this, I would be asking them instead of you.” At the same time, Markle has had the moxie to accuse the royal household of blatant racism – a comment that can’t just be thrown around willy-nilly about an institution like the British crown.

Other sources have claimed that young women on staff were “broken” by Markle and Prince Harry’s behavior, that the couple were “outrageous bullies,” and that they considered resigning over the alleged mistreatment. One senior staffer even asserted she was miserable working for the former duchess and felt like she was pushed “to the limit.” Markle has also been accused of making Kate Middleton cry and bullying Princess Charlotte, but the former duchess has asserted that she was instead the victim.

Throughout Markle’s journey from American actress to British royalty and back to the States, the former duchess has been accused of being driven by selfish ambition. Sources have revealed that she befriended socialites for clout and then ditched the friendship when it was no longer needed to climb the social ladder. She has gone on stage for speaking engagements that undoubtedly brought in big bags of cash touting feminist mantras and attempting to build other women up, but does she actually live by the words she preaches? According to media executives who worked with her on her podcast, she’s “every broadcaster’s worst nightmare,” so it wouldn’t be shocking if the blind items from gossip books are in fact true.

The former duchess’s official website once read how she was “proud to be a woman and a feminist,” and publications have reported that part of her royal legacy would be her drive to bring “awareness to gender inequality” and “speak out on the things that really matter.”

“Women need a seat at the table, they need an invitation to be seated there, and in some cases, where this is not available, they need to create their own table,” Markle once said. And create a table, she did indeed.

It’s unclear how many of the many rumors that circulate about the royal family are in fact true, but time and time again, Markle has been called out for narcissistic tendencies – allegations that stand in firm opposition to her own feminist branding. 

7. Tyra Banks

Supermodel and film and television star Tyra Banks created a modeling empire through the reality competition show she hosted, America’s Next Top Model. She has changed the lives of many competitors in positive ways as well as demonstrated to audiences how even the most unassuming woman can win a modeling contract. Additionally, Banks has gone on the record saying that she considers herself to be a feminist, and once in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, she even said, “We as women need to stop judging.”

However, Banks has been called out by fans for hypocritically putting down contestants on her show. On Cycle 1, Banks and the other judges repeatedly commented on contestant Robin Manning’s weight and labeled her plus-size, despite Banks still modeling during that time with similar measurements.

Banks also didn’t step in when judges Janice or Ms J. made comments like “You all know how I feel about large women in couture,” or “Miss Toccara, we all know you’re plus-sized. Suck the gut, baby. Anything hanging out, it looks nasty.”

Then, in Cycle 6, contestant Danielle Evans was told she needed to fix the gap in her teeth if she wanted a CoverGirl contract. Banks pointed to her own two front teeth, telling Evans the look wasn’t marketable and that: “This is all people see. It’s easy, breezy, beautiful CoverGirl.” 

Yet, in later seasons, Banks actually asked a different contestant to widen the gap between her two front teeth. It’s very common for contestants to undergo dramatic changes to their appearance, which can leave them feeling quite emotional, but some of the comments about the girls’ natural beauty traits, that Banks either said herself or allowed judges to get away with, have left viewers with raised eyebrows.

More recently, in Cycle 24, Banks actually made contestant Liberty Neutschil dye her hair red based on her potential political leanings. She said, “You voted red, now you’re seeing red,” on air, but as it turns out, Neutschil didn’t vote Republican and felt that the show had cut clips in such a way that misconstrued her politics.

It’s true, the modeling industry is quote cutthroat, and it wouldn’t make good reality TV if the contestants didn’t face any adversity. However, some of Banks’ own actions or words seem to be in direct opposition to her personal brand of feminism. Some contestants have come forward years later saying they “were just there to be humiliated.”

Closing Thoughts

When you’re given a platform that wields both power and influence, there’s a lot of good that you can do with it, but there’s always the potential for bad behavior. People do slip up and act in opposition to their own personal morals or guiding principles from time to time, and we should give them grace to improve how they treat others. But it’s certainly worth pointing out if there’s a pattern of repeated behavior that’s being hidden behind a veil of intersectional, all-encompassing feminism and empowerment.

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