Michael Buckner/Getty Images
Hornaday wrote:
How many students watch outsized frat-boy fantasies like "Neighbors" and feel, as Rodger did, unjustly shut out of college life that should be full of "sex and fun and pleasure"? How many men, raised on a steady diet of Judd Apatow comedies in which the shlubby arrested adolescent always gets the girl, find that those happy endings constantly elude them and conclude, "It's not fair"?
Movies may not reflect reality, but they powerfully condition what we desire, expect and feel we deserve from it. The myths that movies have been selling us become even more palpable at a time when spectators become their own auteurs and stars on YouTube, Instagram and Vine.
Rodger, 22, is suspected of killing six people at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Before the shooting, Rodger posted a YouTube video of himself speaking about "rotting in loneliness" and seeking "retribution" against "the females of the human species" who continuously rejected him.
After reading Hornaday's Washington Post article linking him to the tragedy, Rogen tweeted to his 2.08 million followers:
.@AnnHornaday I find your article horribly insulting and misinformed.
- Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) May 26, 2014
.@AnnHornaday how dare you imply that me getting girls in movies caused a lunatic to go on a rampage.
- Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) May 26, 2014
Apatow, too, took offense. He explained why he found Hornaday's article so ridiculous to his 1.21 million followers:
"@Sethrogen: .@AnnHornaday I find your article horribly insulting and misinformed."She uses tragedy to promote herself with idiotic thoughts
- Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) May 27, 2014
"@melissa5001: @Sethrogen @marshallsheldon @AnnHornaday why is it always everything but mental illness?" Because that doesn't sell papers.
- Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) May 27, 2014
Remember everyone - ads next to articles generate money. They say something shocking and uninformed & get you to click on it to profit.
- Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) May 27, 2014
Most of Earth can't find a mate-- someone to love. People who commit murder of numerous people have mental health issues of some type.
- Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) May 27, 2014
Here is how it all works. Anne says something thoughtless. I say it is wrong then CNN asks everyone to debate and it becomes TV.
- Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) May 27, 2014
I said no. I wonder if Anne can prevent herself from going on and becoming part of how these tragic events become profit centers for media
- Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) May 27, 2014
While Hornaday tweeted out her article on Sunday, she has yet to respond to the backlash.