What to Know
If Elyse Myers thought the backlash involving her new book was going to blow over by now, it looks like she was probably wrong about that one. After she was called out for responding to negative reviews of her book, That’s a Great Question, I’d Love to Tell You, which was released in October, people are still coming for the popular TikToker on social media.
Now, Elyse is being accused of “perpetual victimhood,” and while some people agree, others have different (and very strong) feelings on the situation.
Elyse recently caught heat for an exchange she had on Threads.
The controversy first unfolded earlier this month, when Elyse replied to a review of her book that was shared on Threads. She wasn’t tagged in the post, but it made it to her feed anyway, resulting in an awkward (yet surprisingly friendly) exchange between Elyse and the reader, @alysonrosevintage.
The situation opened up a huge debate about the unspoken rule that authors shouldn’t engage with reviews of their work online, since readers should feel free to share their honest opinions, especially if they aren’t tagged in the post in the first place.
One TikToker is taking her to task in a video that’s going viral.
@kendrasyrdal people can be nice and wrong happy friday #elysemyers #authortok #booktok #bookreviews ♬ original sound – ks
Days after the controversy played out on social media, TikToker @kendrasyrdal went viral for sharing her take on the situation. Acknowledging that Elyse’s mistake was “not the end of the world,” Kendra’s beef was more about the way that Elyse responded to the situation without telling her league of defenders to not to send hate to the people who weren’t big fans of her book.
After Elyse’s main defense was that, as a first time author, she “didn’t know any better,” Kendra believes she’s just showing typical “cis white women” behavior and is once again proving herself to be untrustworthy — even though in general, she does come off as a nice person.
“Your sensitivity or niceness does not absolve you of the right to be criticized or critiqued or given feedback,” Kendra said. “And constantly playing the sensitivity and the nice card? That’s perpetual victimhood that I’m sorry, is annoying.”
Has the Elyse hate train truly gone too far this time?
In the comments, plenty of people agreed with Kendra’s take, but there were also many others who think it’s time to let this whole debacle involving Elyse go.
“I’m not even a fan, but calling out someone for replying nicely to a Thread post, a social media platform literally designed for people to reply to a post, then I’m afraid it’s y’all who have lost the plot and are wrong,” one commenter wrote. “You’re doing the exact thing you’re accusing her of and its wild y’all can’t see that.”
At this point, Elyse is staying pretty quiet about the situation online, but it’s still too early to see if the controversy will end up damaging her following long term.
