
Source: Jon Kopaloff / Getty
Baby…Black Twitter was in a frenzy this morning after news hit that actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Laughlin were arrested for partaking in an elaborate bribery scheme to get their children into some of the most elite universities in the country.
According to NBC News, the FBI spent two years investigation the Desperate Housewives and Fuller House actresses along with almost 50 other people involved in the $25 million scandal, appropriately named Operation Varsity Blues.
See, this elite network of wealthy parents paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to a California man, William “Rick” Singer, who boosted their children’s chances of gaining entrance into elite colleges, such as Yale University and Stanford University.
He did so by paying other people to take tests for their client’s children, bribing test administrators to allow that to happen, and bribing college coaches and administrators to identify the applicants as athletes, NBC write. The indictment also stated that some of the students even lied about their race and ethnicity on their applications to benefit from affirmative action.
“This case is about the widening corruption of elite college admissions through the steady application of wealth, combined with fraud,” U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew Lelling said in a press conference on Tuesday.
Adding, “There can be no separate college admission for wealthy, and I will add there will not be a separate criminal justice system either.”
When it comes to two Hollywood actresses, Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, agreed to pay bribes totaling $500,000 to strengthen her two daughters’ chances of gaining admission to the University of Southern California, NBC reported. Meanwhile, Huffman and her husband, actor William H. Macy, paid $15,000 to get one of their daughters unlimited time for her SAT test.
“We believe everyone charged here today had a role in fostering a culture of corruption and greed that created an uneven playing field for students trying to get into these schools the right way through hard work, good grades and community service,” John Bonavolonta, FBI special agent in charge, told NBC News.
“Following 10 months of investigation using sophisticated techniques, the FBI uncovered what we believe to be a rigged system,” Bonavolonta said, “robbing students all over the country of their right to a fair shot of getting into some of the most elite universities in this country.”
Clearly, this continues to show the ways that the intersections of wealth, white privilege and access continue to erode the system and allow for the 1 percent to get away with it. Meanwhile, people of color, especially Black students, who attend Ivy Leagues or other coveted colleges are made to feel inferior or told that they only got their “spot there” because of affirmative action.
Well, like me, Black Twitter was also HOT and had plenty to say about the situation from making jokes about the ridiculousness of it, pointing out the hypocrisy of how most of White America negatively views affirmative action and sharing their own personal experiences as a student of color in college.
Here’s what folks had to say:
Black Twitter Calls Out White Celebs Defrauding Colleges So Their Mediocre Kids Can Get Accepted was originally published on hellobeautiful.com
1.
Meanwhile, a black mother(s) is sitting in jail somewhere because she/they used an auntie's address in the suburbs to send her/their black sons/daughters to better schools https://t.co/Y9Szj7sMbT
— MF MOCK (@brentinmock) March 12, 2019
2.
White millionaires are scamming their rich white children into college
— George M Johnson (@IamGMJohnson) March 12, 2019
Black children fighting over charter school lottery like the hunger games & parents arrested for sending their kids to public schools in better areas.
3.
I keep thinking about why I’m so surprised that Felicity Huffman and William H Macy are involved in this? Like... they just seem like such down to earth, character actor, “doing it for the craft” types, that I forgot they’re just rich people who want rich people shit.
— Tracie Hunte (@TracieHunte) March 12, 2019
4.
5.
I can’t believe ABC cancelled “American Crime” before Felicity Huffman could play herself in the next season of it.
— Britt Julious (@britticisms) March 12, 2019
6.
When you gotta break aunt Becky out of jail. pic.twitter.com/ouwPjstDnV
— Travon Free (@Travon) March 12, 2019
7.
Live footage of when Abigail Fisher finds out it wasn't qualified Black people via affirmative action who took her spot -- but wealthy white people like Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin who used cronyism, capitalism, and nepotism instead. #StayMadAbby pic.twitter.com/Klbdkbcwm7
— Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens) March 12, 2019
8.
In light of today’s events, this deserves a retweet. https://t.co/o1ZXLkEtTs
— JB Tadena (@JayBeeTadena) March 12, 2019
9.
10.
now I'm gonna tell everyone I didn't get into USC because my parents didn't have 500k to drop
— Camryn Garrett (@dancingofpens) March 12, 2019
11.
AND a bunch of black and brown kids in charter schools until 7pm, walking in straight lines, doing math drills and being told they just need "grit" to get into college https://t.co/A3HHFQr6ur
— Jenée (@jdesmondharris) March 12, 2019
12.
I want the people who were up in arms about affirmative action in college admittance to keep that same energy for rich people who pay to get their kids into Ivy League schools.
— Jenét Where are the girls and babies? Morrow (@JenetAllDay) March 12, 2019
These are the people who are ACTUALLY stealing your kid's spot. https://t.co/L6qYvpNKcT
13.
wow, turns out that money was the real Affirmative Action all along!
— bij (@bijanstephen) March 12, 2019
14.
“BUT WHAT ABOUT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION,” says Chad as he cries to his lawyer dad in his salmon shorts. https://t.co/0hUTo23MXL
— Defund Green Arrow’s Hillbilly Tether™️ (@IWriteAllDay_) March 12, 2019
15.
The saddest funniest thing about this college bribery scandal? These kids went to the best schools, had the best resources, and they couldn't compete with kids who had nothing. Their parents blame affirmative action instead of the fact that little Jackalope McQueasy is lazy.
— Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) March 12, 2019
16.
Lori Loughlin spent over $500,000 trying to get her daughters into USC, my alma mater. SC is 5% Black yet folk act like we were all Affirmative Action admits. Meanwhile we earned our spots (and have the student loans to prove it), and these folk buying tests and grades. Smh
— Britni Danielle (@BritniDWrites) March 12, 2019
17.
Rich people using their wealth to ensure (steal) spots at prestigious colleges for their mediocre children is an American pastime.
— X (@XLNB) March 12, 2019
You know what else is tradition? Obscuring this fact by blaming black people & affirmative action for “snatching away” opportunities.
18.
Ppl complaining about affirmative action when it’s these “privileged” kids who really don’t belong.
— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) March 12, 2019
19.
20.
For $500,000 my child better be getting into Hogwarts, forget USC. Damn Aunt Becky pic.twitter.com/Dqh0I2Y9mg
— Simone Scott (@Simone_Scott) March 12, 2019
21.
I had to go and check Instagram to make sure this photo of Aunt Becky’s kid was real and it is very real. The unmitigated gall... pic.twitter.com/Gx1nYMYBSS
— Natasha Rothwell (@natasharothwell) March 12, 2019
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23.
Wealthy white people committing fraud to pay their kids’ way into Ivy League schools instead of just donating to a building the way old-fashioned wealthy white people pay their kids’ way into Ivy League schools is what makes this news https://t.co/5TS22X2QN3
— Ivie Ani (@ivieani) March 12, 2019
24.
Can we please start giving Rich White kids the same side eye that Black & Brown kids receive when they say they attended an Ivy League school?! You know when it’s assumed that minority students took “someone” else’s spot who was “more qualified”! #DownWithTheDoubleStandard
— bevysmith (@bevysmith) March 12, 2019
25.
I am so shocked that rich white people were caught finessing their way into Ivy League institutions. Gee willickers, Batman. I thought they all got in off of merit.
— Charles Preston (@_CharlesPreston) March 12, 2019
*Looks at the 45th and 43rd President of the United States*
So shocked.