Never forget you’re special.
British model and reality TV actress Rhian Sugden was savaged on social media for posting a selfie at the Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin. She captioned the photo “E.T. phone home.”
“Imagine having such little respect for the millions of people murdered during the Holocaust that you think this is appropriate,” one offended commenter wrote on her Instagram page. “What an embarrassment of a human.”
Another Instagram user wrote, “That’s all you have to say at a holocaust museum? Nice.”
Other critics online called her a “narcissist” and “an idiot,” according to HuffPost, which linked to the Sugden’s photo before she made her account private.
The memorial, consisting of more than 2,700 concrete slabs, is a $25-million monument built in 2005 to remember the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II.
The catwalker clawed back, arguing that what she did was nothing out of the unusual.
“Every other single person who has been there has [taken] a pic/selfie,” she replied. “Am I smiling? Am I laughing? No.”
Sugden argued the E.T. reference was in regard to how she felt she looked in the selfie. She also posted a Twitter photo of movie alien “E.T.” The Extra Terrestrial” wearing a hood similar to what she was wearing at the Holocaust memorial in Berlin, with the caption “It’s a bit nippy in Manchester today.”
According to her IMDB page, Sugden appeared on various incarnations of the reality TV show “Big Brother” and a film called “Your Highness.” She lists her birthday as Sept. 11, 1986.
To be clear, she is not discussing the fallacies of the theme park, "Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe" of Berlin, citing revisionist literature, or adressing revisionist arguments. She merely posted a selfy near the 'Holocaust Church'.
This is reminiscent of being blasphemous against a religious system. I know the Sistine Chapel doesn't permit photos, as it is a hallowed place.
Would the reaction be nearly as strong if she posted this near a Holodomer burial site?
