American musician and social media star Madison Beer has apologized for “romanticizing” a controversial book that depicts a relationship between a middle-aged man and a 12-year-old girl.
During an Instagram Live session on June 16, Beer was asked what her favorite book was, and she revealed that it was Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, first published in 1955 to much criticism due to its themes and suggestive motifs.
While it has come to be considered somewhat of an academic classic, many people obviously took offense to the star saying that she “romanticizes the book,” defending it in a series of now-deleted tweets.
In the ensuing drama, Madison Beer herself was trending on Twitter, including the hashtag #MadisonBeerIsOverParty, which seems to have become a common hashtag for stars that social media users wish to ‘cancel.’
After a while, though, Madison appeared to see error in what she had said and how she had spoken about Lolita, and came out with an apology.
After revealing her favorite book, a fan responded saying “please tell me you don’t romanticize Lolita,” to which Beer said “I definitely do, but we’re not going to talk about that.”
thread of Madison Beer’s tweets tonight of her defending herself saying she romanticizes a book about pedophilia since she’s deleted the tweets pic.twitter.com/1cXS66o5yl
— des ミ☆ (@hauntediivy) June 16, 2020
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
In a series of now-deleted tweets (which can be seen in the Twitter thread above), Beer confirmed that she has always loved Lolita because it’s so controversial, telling an important story from a different point of view, adding that it’s “just a book.”
This, though, didn’t seem to impress some people, who demanded Madison realize why “romanticizing” Lolita isn’t acceptable.
By the evening of June 16, Madison released a statement on Twitter saying that she was “too flippant” with her responses during the Instagram Live session, saying that she should revisit Lolita to “read it through a new lens.”
— madison beer (@madisonbeer) June 16, 2020
While some still weren’t satisfied with her apology, many fans thanked her for realizing why they felt what she said was wrong. Madison may think twice before responding to such questions in the future, even for something as simple as her favorite book.