Will Lori Laughlin ever recover from her crazy scandal?
After serving a two-month prison sentence, Lori Laughlin will return to her acting career. While still being under supervised release for two years, a judge gave Laughlin clearance for work travel to Canada. Laughlin is set to reprise her role as Abigail Stanton in When Hope Calls, a GAC Family spinoff of Hallmark’s When Calls the Heart.
Despite being allowed to return to performing, Laughlin has not evaded public scrutiny. Critics online have pointed out how white privilege and entitlement have cleared a path for the former Full House star to appear on-screen once again.
The college admissions scandal
Since the story broke in 2019, the college admissions scandal has become one of the most notorious pieces of celebrity gossip in recent memory. The story became so big that earlier this year Netflix released a documentary starring Matthew Modine called Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal.
Laughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, allegedly paid a man named William Rick Singer $500,000 dollars to help get their daughters Isabella Rose & Olivia Jade into the University of Southern California. Other celebrities such as actress Felicity Huffman and her husband, William H. Macy, were involved in the conspiracy.
Laughlin & Giannulli were eventually arrested on federal charges of conspiracy to commit wire & mail fraud. Laughlin’s husband was sentenced to a comparatively longer stint of five months. As Laughlin & Giannulli adjust to life outside of prison, many are left feeling that the couple avoided justice.
Public outcry against Laughlin
When it was revealed that Lori Laughlin would return to acting with When Hope Calls, a firestorm of outrage was ignited online. In a response to a Deadline feature on Laughlin’s return, Stephanie Laffin tweeted “Hollywood: The Land of No Consequences for Your Actions.”
More online criticism of the Full House actress soon followed. Many thought that Laughlin’s status as a wealthy white woman helped her gain a better legal outcome. Riley Morrison tweeted that many people “struggle to get employment after being incarcerated and don’t have the luxury of being able to leave their state/province.”
With Laughlin returning to her acting career and being given a pass to go to Canada, many are wondering if her case would have had a different outcome if she were of a different background. In response to an article by The Hollywood Reporter, Jorge Ramirez-Martinez tweeted that the light punishment handed to Laughlin “wouldn’t be the case if she was BIPOC.”
Although she has faced outspoken critics on Twitter, Lori Laughlin has not issued a public statement on the matter. She isn’t the only one in her family who has shirked punishment after the college admissions scandal.
Fallout after the scandal
Lori Laughlin’s daughter Olivia Jade is reported to not be living with her parents anymore. In the face of controversy and public criticism following the college admissions scandal, the twenty-two-year-old influencer has been hiding out in Malibu. In addition to being estranged from her parents, Olivia Jade lost her sponsorship deals with Sephora, Estée Lauder, and TRESemmé.
Olivia Jade has made it known on her social media that she had no desire to attend college, and that she barely went to class while at USC. Since news of the scandal broke, Isabella Rose & Olivia Jade have both dropped out of USC, and the university has threatened to ban them from campus. The situation has allegedly led Olivia Jade to feel victimized.
Even though her family was involved in the college admissions scandal, it hasn’t stopped Olivia Jade from making public appearances. She has since appeared on Dancing With the Stars among other programs.
Olivia Jade on Red Table Talk
In lieu of the controversy surrounding the scandal, Olivia Jade appeared on Jada Pinkett-Smith’s Facebook Watch show Red Table Talk on December 8th, 2020.
Before Jade even appeared on the show, a debate raged between Pinkett-Smith and her mother Adrienne Banfield-Norris. The two argued about whether or not it was the right thing to give Olivia Jade a shot at redemption.
Banfield-Norris said she thought Jade being able to go on the show is the “epitome of white privilege.” Pinkett-Smith wanted to give Olivia Jade a second chance, saying that “just because you have privilege it doesn’t exempt you.” Jade herself said that what’s important to her is “to learn from the mistake.”
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It will be interesting to see how Lori Laughlin and the rest of her family adjust to life after being embroiled in the college admissions scandal. What do you think about Lori Laughlin’s return to acting? Let us know in the comments.
