Vanity Fair faces backlash for suggesting Hillary Clinton learn to knit

Vanity Fair faced sharp criticism on Wednesday from supporters of Hillary Clinton after the magazine posted a video with “New Year’s resolutions” for the former presidential candidate that included retiring from politics.

A video posted on the magazine’s Twitter account Tuesday featured Vanity Fair writers suggesting new hobbies for the 2016 Democratic nominee, including “knitting” and taking “more photos in the woods.”

{mosads}

“Get someone on your tech staff to disable autofill on your iPhone so that typing in ‘F’ doesn’t become ‘form exploratory committee for 2020,’ ” advised another writer.

Clinton has repeatedly denied that she is planning a 2020 presidential run, and spent much of the year on a book tour for her memoir, “What Happened.”

The video was swiftly condemned by prominent Clinton supporters on Twitter, including consultant and CauseWired founder Tom Watson, who called the video “the nastiest, most sexist disgrace.”

5. Every Clinton story VF *ever does* from now till kingdom come (certainly for the next couple of decades, forever in media land) will be criticized with the lens of “knitting.” It’s the nastiest, most sexist disgrace … and it’s forever.

— Tom Watson (@tomwatson) December 27, 2017

6. Only an apology – swift and real and tough – can mitigate that. I’ve done it myself. It’s no fun. But receipts are very real in our connected age. If anyone reading this knows Radhika Jones personally or professionally, please pass this along. #

— Tom Watson (@tomwatson) December 27, 2017

“Vanity Fair tl;dr: Six young white people holding glasses of champagne would like Hillary Clinton to abandon her life’s work and platform and just shut up. Good to know,” tweeted author Summer Brennan.

Vanity Fair tl;dr: Six young white people holding glasses of champagne would like Hillary Clinton to abandon her life’s work and platform and just shut up. Good to know. https://t.co/cELDKdVmYd

— Summer Brennan (@summerbrennan) December 26, 2017

The backlash prompted an apology from Vanity Fair, but the magazine did not delete the video. 

“It was an attempt at humor and we regret that it missed the mark,” Beth Kseniak, a spokeswoman for Vanity Fair, told multiple media outlets.