YouTube kids entertainer Ms. Rachel is making it clear that she doesn’t have any drama with Olivia Munn following the actor’s comments about her children’s content.
Munn sparked backlash earlier this week from Ms. Rachel fans after she told People magazine that she doesn’t let her children watch the popular YouTuber’s videos.
In response, Ms. Rachel said that she would rather people focus on her advocacy work than try to pit two women against each other to start an internet feud.
After the interview was published, Munn began to receive “violent and threatening comments and messages,” according to her husband, John Mulaney.
So, what’s the real story behind the drama between Munn and Ms. Rachel?
How did we get here?
In a recent interview with People, which has since been removed from the website, Munn admitted she isn’t a fan of Ms. Rachel’s content and doesn’t let her children, Malcolm, 3, and Mei, 8 months, tune in.
“I know kids love [Ms. Rachel], but the thing is, if I can’t watch it, I’m not going to spend the rest of my life going crazy,” Munn told the outlet. “These kid shows drive me crazy.”
Munn said her son Malcolm is a new fan of Blue’s Clues, a popular children’s show where an animated puppy helps find clues to something the host is trying to figure out.
“Malcolm asked for Blue’s Clues [recently], and I don’t know who showed him Blue’s Clues, but they are on my s— list now. I said, ‘Hell no. Not in my house,’” she said.
Munn said the only show she likes to watch at home is Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood because it helped Malcolm adjust to becoming a big brother.
“Daniel Tiger has a little sister, and we’d tell him, ‘There’s a baby sister coming,’” she added.
She also said her husband got Malcolm into “the Spider-Man cartoons, which is not interesting to me.”
“I put on Tom Holland’s Spider-Man: Homecoming and was like, ‘If you want to watch the real-life ones, then we can watch that,” she said. “It might be a little too old for him, but I can’t take the cartoons.”
What backlash did Munn receive?
Shortly after the interview was published, Ms. Rachel fans began to criticize Munn for her comments, with some naysayers calling her a “self-centred parent” in a Reddit thread.
“What a miserable way to parent a child. I understand that there are some shows (Cocomelon is one) that are both annoying and do nothing to promote learning, but Ms. Rachel? Blue’s Clues?? Ma’am. Maybe you shouldn’t have had a kid if you didn’t want to actually raise that child and let them have childish interests. This is an extremely selfish take,” one user wrote.
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“So, she doesn’t want her kids to have access to age appropriate (educational in the case of my girl Ms. Rachel) programming just because it isn’t made for her, an adult?” another user asked.
“Olivia Munn has so many takes that age horribly. Add this to the list. It’s not so bad, it’s just a weird thing to be proud of. Feels like insecurity — ‘I’m not like a regular mom, I’m a cool mom!’ vibe about being too cool to see your son watch Blues Clues is deeply silly lol,” another Reddit user wrote.
What was Ms. Rachel’s response?
Ms. Rachel, who has more than 15 million subscribers on YouTube, responded to Munn’s comments by sharing a screenshot of the article on Instagram and stating that she would rather have media outlets highlight her political advocacy.
“WHO CARES?! I’d rather you cover me advocating for kids in Gaza who are literally starving, largest cohort of child amputees in modern history, thousands & thousands killed — no medical care, no education, no homes… do better!!!” she wrote in the now-deleted Instagram post. “***Not against [Munn] at all and don’t care that she doesn’t want to watch the show — all my love to her and her family — disappointed in the outlets.”
In the screenshots shared by Ms. Rachel, she included her comments under the Instagram posts from Parents magazine and People, writing, “I’d rather you cover my advocacy for kids in Gaza.”
Munn then took to her Instagram Stories, writing, “To Ms. Rachel and her fans, I hear and respect the passion behind your support. I never anticipated the media would single out one small thing I said and distort it like they have.”
The Buddy Games actor said her comments were not meant to “diminish the joy, comfort and impact” Ms. Rachel brings to families.
“Every parent understands the importance of finding meaningful programming that helps us connect with our kids. I don’t want something taken out of context to be a moment that steals even a minute of joy for anyone,” she added.
Meanwhile, People took down its initial interview with Munn, adding an editor’s note to the page following the backlash.
“On June 11, we took the unusual step of removing the post titled ‘Olivia Munn Doesn’t Let Her Kids Watch Ms. Rachel. Here’s Why,’ due to the violent threats that escalated towards the interview subject and her family. There is no excuse for these abhorrent attacks, and we will always prioritize safety above all else,” the note read.
John Mulaney steps in to defend wife Olivia Munn
After Munn’s apology, she still continued to receive backlash and her husband, comedian and actor Mulaney, stepped in to issue his own statement.
“An innocent comment my wife Olivia Munn made about what children’s programs we like has somehow — unbelievably — been conflated with not caring about the deaths of children in Gaza,” he wrote. “Because of this, my wife and my two kids are now receiving violent and threatening comments and messages in her DMs.”
Mulaney called the backlash “absolutely insane” and said it “needs to stop.”
“The people doing this are so wildly out of line and so unhelpful to any conversation,” he added. “You took a nothing comment to a dark and dangerous place.
“This kind of behavior isn’t activism.”
Ms. Rachel tells fans to ‘be kind’ to Munn and her family
After Mulaney shared his statement, Ms. Rachel shared another post on Instagram asking her followers to “be kind” to Munn and “her precious family.”
“I don’t believe in hate, attacks or hurtful comments. As I said in my first post, this isn’t about her,” Ms. Rachel wrote. “It was that I scroll & see stories that don’t matter while seeing that children’s immeasurable suffering is being ignored – it breaks me.
“Also I know some outlets would love to cover a feud between two women, but guess what? That doesn’t exist. Her and I have been in touch and we are both choosing kindness.”
In her caption, the famous YouTuber wrote, “This isn’t happening but I also am not for canceling people who make mistakes. (She just shared an opinion which is fine.) We all make mistakes and struggle and misspeak and do beautiful, kind things because it’s hard to be a human. It’s really hard.”
For now, it looks like the “drama” has come to an end.
