Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively apologized for hosting their 2012 wedding at a centuries-old plantation where slaves used to die in the past.
As the celebrity couple insisted, they knew that the wedding venue they opted for was “a giant f***ing mistake” after learning that the place has a dark history.
The Pokémon Detective Pikachu actor and the Gossip Girl actress tied the knot at South Carolina’s Boone Hall Plantation, one of the country’s oldest operating plantations, back in 2012.
Following the couple’s ceremony at the plantation, critics accused Reynolds and Lively of promoting the place where Black slaves used to suffer and die in the past.
“It’s something we’ll always be deeply and unreservedly sorry for. It’s impossible to reconcile. What we saw at the time was a wedding venue on Pinterest. What we saw after was a place built upon devastating tragedy,” Reynolds said in a recent interview with Fast Company.
“Years ago we got married again at home—but shame works in weird ways. A giant f***ing mistake like that can either cause you to shut down or it can reframe things and move you into action.
“It doesn’t mean you won’t f*** up again. But repatterning and challenging lifelong social conditioning is a job that doesn’t end.”
Previously, in May, the couple expressed they feel “ashamed” for not recognizing “how deeply rooted systemic racism is” before. They also donated $200,000 to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
“We’ve never had to worry about preparing our kids for different rules of law or what might happen if we’re pulled over in the car,” the couple wrote in a statement following the death of George Floyd.
“We don’t know what it’s like to experience that life day in and day out. We can’t imagine feeling that kind of fear and anger. We’re ashamed that in the past we’ve allowed ourselves to be uninformed about how deeply rooted systemic racism is.”
Replaced!