Gossip Teen

Brown University freshman Emma Watson was the target of some vicious people at Harvard Voice Magazine during the football game between the Harvard and Brown. There was tweeting of her exact whereabouts during the game and a general campaign to make her feel uncomfortable and draw lots of attention to her. The usually low key actress was reportedly “visibly shaken” by the incidents.

The Harvard Voice also posted a picture of Watson on its Web site and proclaimed its stalking mission a “success.” Some readers were furious. “There is a locatable cause of Watson’s experience at Harvard Stadium and a blameworthy party,” read one online rebuke. “Anybody can do anything unfeelingly to anybody in this day and age, especially if they feel imbued with entitlement from membership in Harvard College.”

Eventually the mag’s editor thought it was worthy of their time to post a note saying it was “much ado about nothing…” When that still didn’t satisfy, the editor tried again:

“The presence of a luminary on campus inevitably creates much speculation and excitement, certainly without the help of an intentionally facetious liveblog,” she wrote. “The Voice denies any efforts to ‘orchestrate’ a mass mob of gawkers. In fact, the bloggers were never certain whether or not Watson was actually present and never once caught a glimpse of her… The blog was meant as an intentionally sensationalist parody for which no real action was taken.

“The Voice apologizes for any misunderstanding that the live blog may have caused and for any discomfort Miss Watson may have felt due to the post,” she concluded.

I find it very hard to believe that they didn’t mean to cause her “discomfort.” Posting that she was there (and they did take at least one picture of her that is now off the Voice’s site – but still on the net) was inviting a crowd to form and then what? Was it a “parody” of how many people would show up? What did they want to happen? Her safety could have been in jeopardy and for what? I hope that Emma is able to enjoy campus life as a normal teenager going to college as much as possible but with no more lousy behavior like this.