Celebrities getting into hot water over their past or current comments or actions is now a common occurrence. And the personality who has recently joined this not-at-all-coveted list is actress Kristen Bell who is being canceled by her online fans.
The LASD Lancaster station posted photos of the meet-and-greet with Bell to its social media pages on November 20th. The posts show the actress in two photos: one in which she is seen smiling with an arm around two deputies and another in which she is with a deputy taking a selfie and giving a thumbs up.
The post from LASD read:
“Today, we had the absolute pleasure of meeting @kristenanniebell, who was hands down, the kindest human ever. There truly never is a dull moment in Lancaster!”
Unsurprisingly, critics were quick to slam Bell, who was all smiles in both of the photos.
At issue is that Bell has publicly backed the Black Lives Matter movement and many see her support of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department as a contradiction as it has been “accused of glorifying violence and whose members have cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in legal payouts” as well as racist behavior, according to attorneys for the county, the Los Angeles Times noted.
Additionally, there have been claims of racism in the department. The photo made fans feel like those were things Bell supports.
“Wow this sucks so much @KristenBell. Taking pictures with deputy gang members,” tweeted People’s City Council – Los Angeles.
“landlord celebrities will post about juneteenth but at the end of the day their allies are the cops that protect their property at the expense of human life,” a Twitter user wrote.
“Hey @KristenBell did you tweet #blacklivesmatter cuz this ain’t it,” another tweeted.
Others came out in support of Bell and the sheriff’s department.
“#KristenBell is awesome. Who says she or anyone else can’t support #BlackLivesMatter AND the police. You people are ignorant. God Bless you Kristen,” a Twitter user wrote.
However, Bell and her husband Dax Shepard are big Black Lives Matter supporters and have talked publicly about raising their children to be anti-racism, and understand that color doesn’t matter.
Till now, Bell has not responded to either faction of her followers as well as avoided commenting on the LA County Sheriff’s Department’s post. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Typically this kind of thing tends to blow over without all that much incident. But there are times when the narrative has staying power.
Sources: AWM, Los Angeles Times