This '12 Years' Headline Takes The Awful Cake

As a person who writes a lot of things per day for public consumption, I usually err on the side of lenience for those in similar professions to mine. Human error happens, the information age has a lot of plot holes that still need working out, etc. But sometimes you see a headline that throws you into a whole new ballgame. Such was the case with the Daily Breeze 12 Years a Slave Oscar headline that caused a physical reaction in the publication's executive editor.

The headline in question? "'Slave' Becomes Master." Oy. Yep. That's a thing that was printed, and somewhere other than The Onion.

"It should never have happened," Daily Breeze executive editor Michael Anastasi said of the headline. And yes, it's a local paper — to Torrance, California, aka the setting for Bring It On — but, well, the Internet exists, so now it's been immortalized forever. Anastasi went on to call the headline "tacky, ridiculous, [and] stupid," saying that he "winced" and that his "body is still contorted."

And look, we get it: 12 Years A Slave is by far the hardest Oscar winner to find working, non-offensive jokes about this year. Oscar host Ellen DeGeneres stuck with a comment about how if the movie didn't win the Academy was obviously racist, and Golden Globes hosts Tiny Fey and Amy Poehler pulled it off with a gag that played Poehler as out-of-touch.

It's tricky subject matter, no doubt. But... oof.

Let this be a lesson to all writers that sometimes the wordplay is best left alone.

Image: The Daily Breeze