About

Poor Michelle is a single topic blog highlighting a series of jokes that poke fun at at Michelle Williams, an American singer-songwriter and former member of Destiny’s Child, by portraying her as the snubbed outcast or the least respected member of the popular American R&B girl group.

Origin

On January 15th, 2013, the blog "Poor Michelle" was launched, with the first post highlighting a Destiny's Child promotional photo in which Williams is posed upside down (shown below).

Spread

On January 22nd, 2013, BuzzFeed^[1] highlighted several notable examples from the Tumblr blog. On February 6th, The Huffington Post^[3] published an article listing Williams' most awkward Destiny's Child moments. On February 6th, 2014, the WorldStarHipHop Vine channel posted a video titled "Funniest moment in music history," in which Williams falls down on stage while performing with Destiny's Child (shown below).

On Twitter

On April 2nd, 2014, Twitter user @WatchMeWerkkkkk posted the album cover for the 2002 Destiny’s Child single “Nasty Girl,” pointing out Williams’ placement below the track title along with the hashtag “#PoorMichelle.”^[4]

On the following day, Twitter user @SuaveDandy posted a screenshot of the Google Knowledge card for Destiny's Child in which Williams alone is described as “backing vocals” with the hashtag “#PoorMichelle.” In three months, the tweets gathered upwards of 1,400 and 3,100 retweets respectively.

Michelle Williams' Response

The same day, Williams posted a tweet responding to the "#PoorMichelle" hashtag, joking that her accountant would not classify her as "poor."

"Say Yes" Music Video

On June 18th, 2014, the MichelleWilliamsVEVO YouTube channel uploaded the music video for the song "Say Yes" by Williams featuring Beyonce and Kelly Rowland (shown below).

The video's thumbnail initially featured a screen capture of Beyonce Knowles, causing many Twitter users to revive the #PoorMichelle hashtag. The same day, the International Business Times^[2] published an article about the hashtag's resurgence.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References