Aziz Ansari Writer Turns Down Interview in Brutal Fashion

'Burgundy-lipstick, bad-highlights, second-wave-feminist has-been'
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 18, 2018 12:20 PM CST
Aziz Ansari Writer Torches HLN Host in Rejection Email
In this 2016 file photo, Ashleigh Banfield attends the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington.   (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

On Tuesday, the Babe.net writer behind this week's allegations of sexual misconduct against Aziz Ansari was invited to appear on Ashleigh Banfield's show on HLN. She politely declined. Oh wait, she did the opposite. "I would NEVER go on your network. I would never even watch your network. No woman my age would ever watch your network," Business Insider quotes an email sent from Babe's Katie Way to HLN as saying. "And I will laugh the day you fold." Important backstory: On Monday, Banfield criticized Way's article for being harmful to the #MeToo movement. At issue is where each sees the line for sexual harassment, Mediaite reports. What "Grace" in Way's story calls "the worst night of my life" was, in Banfield's words, just "a bad date." Banfield said Way's story takes away from what she sees as real sexual harassment and assault.

Banfield read portions of Way's response email on air Tuesday. "Ashleigh, someone who I am certain nobody under the age of 45 has ever heard of, I hope the 500 retweets on the single news write-up made that burgundy-lipstick, bad-highlights, second-wave-feminist has-been really relevant for a little while," the email states. Way also accuses Banfield of attacking Grace "in one of the most vulnerable moments of her life." Banfield responded that "if you truly believe in women's rights, if you truly believe in feminism, the last thing you should do is attack someone in an ad hominem way for her age." Meanwhile, Slate takes a deeper look at Babe, which focuses on "vulgar tomfoolery" and reportedly boasts an editorial staff with no member older than 25. Slate concludes Babe is "fun and well-meaning but unabashedly a bit of a mess." (More HLN stories.)

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