Patricia Arquette has come under fire for comments she made when expanding on her wage-equality speech after the Oscars on Sunday.
The actress took to Twitter to defend herself, standing by her statements about women’s rights.
Wage equality will help ALL women of all races in America. It will also help their children and society.
— Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) February 23, 2015
Women have been basically paying a gender tax for generations.
— Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) February 23, 2015
I have long been an advocate for the rights of the #LBGT community. The question is why aren’t you an advocate for equality for ALL women?
— Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) February 23, 2015
If you are fighting against #Equalpay you are fighting for ALL women and especially women of color to make less money than men.
— Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) February 23, 2015
Guess which women are the most negatively effected in wage inequality? Women of color. #Equalpay for ALL women. Women stand together in this
— Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) February 23, 2015
Arquette was criticized after her comments in the Oscar press room, where she said: “It’s time for all the women in America and all the men who love women and all the gay people and all the people of color that we’ve fought for to fight for us, now.”
Critics interpreted Arquette’s remarks to mean she was excluding LGBT people and racial minorities from her speech, putting them in a separate category of people who needed to fight for white feminism. Other people defended Arquette’s speech, saying they don’t think that is what the actress meant and that people shouldn’t tear apart her attempts to fight for women’s rights.
