Margaret Atwood's National Post column on Harper hair disappears, then reappears
Writer tweeted, asking if she had been censored for 'flighty little caper on hair'
A column by Margaret Atwood that poked fun at Stephen Harper's hair disappeared for several hours from the National Post website Friday, raising the ire of the Twitterverse and prompting the award-winning author to wonder if she'd been censored.
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Atwood's piece was back on the newspaper's main page late Friday after being taken down mid-afternoon. The Post said in an email it was held for fact checking.
The column poked fun at Harper, using as an entrypoint the Conservative attack ads that take aim at Justin Trudeau with the phrase, "Nice hair, Justin."
After it was removed from the website, Atwood tweeted at the newspaper asking if she had been censored for what she called a "flighty little caper on hair," drawing hundreds of retweets and responses.
Um, did I just get censored? For my flighty little caper on Hair? <a href="https://twitter.com/nationalpost">@nationalpost</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/fullcomment">@fullcomment</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CANADALAND">@CANADALAND</a> <a href="http://t.co/3OHkiVaWXP">http://t.co/3OHkiVaWXP</a> …
—@MargaretAtwoodThe hashtag #hairgate began trending nationally on Twitter by Friday evening as users questioned why the newspaper's website would remove a humorous column related to the federal election campaigns, particularly one written by a prominent Canadian writer.
Twitter users also rose to the occasion and made as many hair puns as they could fit into a 140-character tweet.
Censoring <a href="https://twitter.com/MargaretAtwood">@MargaretAtwood</a> is truly a harebrained scheme <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HairGate?src=hash">#HairGate</a>
—@ThatTallFriendMaybe the editors just needed to mullet over? Either way, there's gonna be hell toupée. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/hairgate?src=hash">#hairgate</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MargaretAtwood">@MargaretAtwood</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/nationalpost">@nationalpost</a>
—@gilliancalderoh what a tangled wig we weave when first we practice to deceive, Mr. Harper. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/hairgate?src=hash">#hairgate</a>
—@cartogeekAtwood herself joined in on the joke.
(But just remember: Hair today, gone tomorrow... Sorry. Couldn't resist.) <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/hairgate?src=hash">#hairgate</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/dawnbazely">@dawnbazely</a>
—@MargaretAtwoodwith files from CBC News
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