‘Speak English’: US author Barbara Ehrenreich hates clean-up queen Marie Kondo, says her using Japanese proves US is a declining power
- Barbara Ehrenreich said in a since-deleted tweet that she ‘will be convinced that America is not in decline only when … Marie Kondo learns to speak English’
US author and progressive political activist Barbara Ehrenreich is known for bestselling books such as Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream, and most recently, Natural Causes, released in 2018.
But in a since-deleted xenophobic tweet, Ehrenreich made a comment about fellow author Marie Kondo that quickly went viral.
Kondo is the author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and Spark Joy, both international bestselling books. Kondo, who is Japanese, is also the star of a new Netflix show, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, in which she used a translator to communicate with English-speaking clients.
“I will be convinced that America is not in decline only when our de-cluttering guru Marie Kondo learns to speak English.” Ehrenreich tweeted at 11.05am on Monday.
Hong Kong’s own Marie Kondo will teach you how to declutter your life
Twitter users were quick to point out the problematic post. One wrote: “I assume Barbara Ehrenreich will delete this racist/xenophobic tweet but let’s not forget that even otherwise ‘progressive’ white folks have a huge capacity for racism.”