Travel Instagrammer of the Week: Winnie Harlow

Winnie Harlow (winnieharlow)

I’d never heard of supermodel Winnie Harlow, or any of the other current supermodels for that matter, before this week, but I like her. And I’m sticking up for her against the nasty “reporting” of the Daily Mail.

A Mail story last Thursday ran with this headline: “‘We had to give up our business class seats’: Model Winnie Harlow comes under fire for begrudgingly flying coach after her flight is canceled (and for putting her shoes on her seat).” When I read the headline, I thought for sure that Winnie’s post was going to be entitled and whiny, but this was not that at all. The Mail took an innocent post and blew it into something negative to try to stir up trouble. Here’s Winnie’s original post:

 

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I haven’t slept in 4 days, and my flight got cancelled. The amazing airport escort got my team and I put on the fastest flight out but we had to give up our business class seats in order to land in time for a huge shoot at 6am. I realize this may not seem like a big deal to some, but when a plane is your bedroom and a flight the only time to get sleep during a hectic fashion month, it’s tiresome. Regardless I’m grateful, god works in mysterious ways and everything happens for a reason. It’s not everyday glamour, you have to do what you have to do to be successful in life ??❤️ to reach your goals the grind never stops! (Ty @hbjbofficial for being my pillow??)

A post shared by ♔Jamaican Canadian♔ (@winnieharlow) on Sep 18, 2019 at 5:26pm PDT

After the Daily Mail story ran, Winnie responded. Here’s her subsequent post:

 

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@dailymail hmm “bemoaning”.. not Winnie Harlow is grateful for being able to get on a flight period because of the amazing work of of the people in the airport? All you took was “had to give up business class flight”. This whole “woah is me” take is sickening. Me not flying in business is a statement, not a moan. If the class mattered I could’ve waited for the next availability. If I can post pictures in business class and be proud, I can also take pictures in coach and be proud. Proud that making it to work is more important to me than how I got there. That is the message. Like I said, “the grind never stops.” Put that in your headline.

A post shared by ♔Jamaican Canadian♔ (@winnieharlow) on Sep 19, 2019 at 1:47am PDT

If newspapers are going to try to use content from celebrities’ personal social media handles to write stories, they should at least be accurate. I love Steve S’s comment on View From The Wing:

“Haters gonna hate. That was the least objectionable ‘complaining’ I’ve ever seen from the super model, and people still get bent out of shape. Those same commenters are the ones who get delayed 3 hours and tweet ‘NEVER flying United again! #worstairlineever’ Lol”

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