The Sun slammed for criticising Emma Watson's UN speech as crap

Many all over the world saw her growing up as little Hermione on screen and blossoming into a beautiful, intelligent woman who quickly became a brave advocate for feminine equality on the international stage.

Fans celebrated when Harry Potter actress Emma Watson was appointed a United Nations Women's Goodwill Ambassador in 2014, which saw her speaking regularly on issues facing women and gaining wide support for her cause across the globe.

So you can understand their outrage when sensational tabloid The Sun mercilessly cut down her speech at the UN in New York last weekend, calling it "whining, leftie, PC crap".

In his vitriolic and rather foolish attack, which shocked the media too, Sun reporter Rod Liddle said Watson had bored the UN summit audience rigid with her propaganda. "Just like all actresses do if people are stupid enough to give them the chance," he wrote.

Instead, she should be "telling them all the rules of quidditch or how to turn someone into a frog," he ridiculed, mocking her fame as a young wizard in the wildly popular movie series.

 

Offered without comment - The Sun's response to Emma Watson addressing the UN about gender equality and sexual assault pic.twitter.com/KQ0MPSJGbL

— Louise Ridley (@LouiseRidley) September 23, 2016

 

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Hitting back, Watson supporters and the media said it was not right of The Sun to attack a celebrity who has been working hard to make a big difference to societies worldwide.

Calling Liddle's comments gutter journalism, the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) said: "The only explanation for Liddle's shock that "Hermione Granger" would be speaking at the UN seems to be that the man had just woken from a two-year coma, missing Watson's continued involvement with the UN since 2014."

SMH also reminded him that Watson had previously launched the UN's HeForShe gender equality campaign, addressed the 2015 World Economic Forum and ranked 26 on the Time's 100 list of the world's most influential people.

The news site also noted that Liddle "seems to have a particular problem with 'actresses' using their public persona to push for social justice issues, name-checking Watson and Angelina Jolie while other celebrity social justice warriors like Leonardo DiCaprio were spared".

Liddle had sarcastically remarked that he reckoned the UN "got Emma in because Angelina Jolie is a bit tied up with other stuff at the moment".

Speaking up for Watson, Marie Claire said in its report: "Luckily, Liddle's opinion isn't shared by most people. Watson is an intelligent, outspoken feminist and her HeForShe campaign has inspired 1,302,682,254 gender equality actions as of this writing. We're sure she won't let bullies - even those that write for newspapers - slow her down."

How did Watson feel about The Sun's nasty report?

She is unruffled apparently, as she has not given any reaction on her Facebook page while busy posting updates on her work as an activist.

Otherwise, she might have already turned Liddle into a frog.

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