No E! News, Blue Ivy Isn't An 'Adult,' She's Still A Little Girl

Sadly, another day, another social media attack against 8-year-old Blue Ivy Carter. This time it was by the hands of E! News. See, while celebrating Beyonce and Jay-Z’s daughter’s birthday on Tuesday, their social media manager tweeted out a recent picture Matthew Knowles posted of his granddaughter rocking a long blown out silk press.

Sounds harmless? Well, it could have been had the website not captioned that the 8-year-old looked like an adult. “Can someone explain to us when Blue Ivy became an adult? Happy Birthday to Baby Queen Bee,” E! News wrote in a now-deleted tweet.

Granted, this isn’t as cruel as Vanity Fair film critic K. Austin Collins’ tweet calling the little girl “ugly,” but it’s still a problem. As many of us know, for far too long, little Black girls have not been allowed to be their age and are deemed as “grown” or “fast” in ways that rob our babies of their innocence and girlhood. Not only are they sexualized way too soon, but because of our inability to perceive our girls as girls, they are often punished harsher than their white counterparts, especially in schools.

Yes, Blue has grown up a lot since she was a baby (duh, it’s called aging), but that doesn’t mean she’s an adult. Be clear: Words matter. Blue is still an 8-year-old girl, who may be born to mega-famous parents and exposed to money, fame, and experiences most girls her age are not. BUT, she’s still an everyday second-grader, who does not have the emotional maturity to process and cope with these types of attacks, whether intentional or unintentional, that are being thrown at her. Thankfully, Black Twitter jumped in and joined forces to let E! News know as much. Take a look: