It's unclear the true influence celebrities have over an election (it seems to be significantly less than we all thought), but it's clear that Amy Schumer has always been an avid Hillary Clinton supporter and vehement critic of Donald Trump. This is all fine.
But at the moment, we have a little problem.
On November 9, the comedian and actress shared a politically charged Instagram post. With it she included a lengthy, heated caption. Alongside it, she shared a meme of Trump featuring a quote he apparently said to People in 1998.
The quote is fake. The meme was outed as false back in July.
In the post, Schumer directly addressed Trump voters, writing, "People who voted for him you are weak. You are not just misinformed. You didn't even attempt information. You say lock her up and you know something about the word email but what was in the emails? You have no clue. Well I'll tell you if you were able to read this far through the holes in your sheet. They said nothing incriminating. Nothing." At the very tail end of her post, she added: "Yes this quote is fake but it doesn't matter."
But the thing is — it does.
This whole post is painfully ironic. Why could she not present her argument in a fact-based manner? The laziness and pettiness Schumer displayed is frustrating. Contradicting herself on her own Instagram page nearly nullifies the entire message. Her words (as a woman, more so than a celebrity) matter right now more than ever. But it seems like she is weirdly okay with spreading her own misinformation.
To be fair, it's not just Schumer. The meme has been seen all over social media, specifically Instagram, in the wake of the election result. Many people genuinely have no idea the quote is fake. Schumer, however, is receiving much harsher comments than anyone else (like the woman she reposted it from) because of her high profile and extremely charged caption.
One commenter wrote, "Judging by how much false information you just shared, YOU didn't even attempt information. The 'quote' in the photo is made up and is something he never said. Im not sure why you're calling him homophobic, because he's actually been quite liberal on that issue. And Clinton sent and received classified information on a private server, deleted several thousand emails after receiving a subpoena, and destroyed several devices to cover her tracks. In other words, she broke several laws. You call us misinformed, but it appears you haven't even done your research." Another agreed and added, "How can people support this? She used a made up quote lol."
Fake internet memes have no place in this rocky political landscape, and they're no balm for the sensitive state of our nation. We, and Schumer, are better than this. Let this post of hers be a reminder that if you are going to lay out your personal feelings about the election, the candidates, and the voters themselves, try to be as informed as possible. In the end, it's best to remember that love always trumps hate.