Ariel Winter Slams Internet Celebrity/Bigot Nash Grier

Robert Kessler
·Editor
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Ariel Winter and Nash Grier (Photos: Getty Images)

If you’ve not yet heard of Nash Grier, you’re about to. Grier, along with fellow Vine star Cameron Dallas, signed a movie deal based on his Internet fame. Through his presence on Twitter, Vine, and YouTube, 17-year-old Grier has a fan base of more than 22 million people.

So what’s drawing so many people to Grier’s content? Well, for one, his use of the word “fag” as a punchline.

So when #FavNashVid started trending on Twitter, Modern Family star Ariel Winter decided to remind his fans what they’re supporting.

To clarify, Winter uploaded a longer note, explaining why she doesn’t support Grier.

“Your homophobic video that you made when you were 14 was not the only time you spouted homophobic slurs,” Winter wrote. “Your Twitter was full of them before you posted the video AND after! With access to the internet, how could you be so ignorant to think that the word you used was not excessively harmful?”

The video to which Winter is referring has been deleted from Grier’s Vine — after it caused a serious uproar — but is easy to find on the internet. The punchline is that only “fags” get AIDS; how very Ronald Reagan of him.

It’s not the only questionable decision Grier has made, as Winter points out.

“Let’s also not forget that you made a completely misogynistic video telling all young women what we have to do to get your attention! You say that we have to shave our entire bodies,” Winter writes. “Lastly… let’s not forget about you tweeting ‘getting paranoid when there’s a Muslim around’ or about how you made a Vine mocking how Asian people name their kids! How can one person say so many terrible things on every end of the spectrum and never realize they’re wrong?”

Much of Grier’s success is based on his image as a wholesome boy next door. In 2014, New York magazine wrote of Grier:

Nash, who is from North Carolina, is a God-fearing Christian who frequently consults his iPhone’s Bible app while on the road. “I don’t use cuss words, I try not to do anything awful. You don’t want to lower your audience,” he says.

In her takedown, Winter reminds Grier of his responsibility to his teenage fans.

“When we were 14, teenagers were committing suicide from comments like yours,” Winter says. “You only apologized for that video and stopped using that phrase after it started affecting you pocketbook and chipping away at your fame.”

Responding to Winter’s post, Grier asked Winter to take the conversation out of the public eye, which is when she whipped out the clapback.