'Daily Show's Williams slams 'lean in' article

Kelly Lawler | USA TODAY

The world is still waiting to hear who will replace Jon Stewart as the host of The Daily Show. And while we don't know who will be sitting in Stewart's chair we do know for sure who won't be: current Daily Show correspondent Jessica Williams.

The comedian nipped speculation about her taking over for Stewart in the bud Sunday, by tweeting that she is "not hosting" and is "extremely under-qualified for the job." However, not everyone was satisfied with this declaration.

Ester Bloom of the website The Billfold posted an article titled "On the Daily Show's Jessica Williams, the Latest High-Profile Victim of Impostor Syndrome" in which she argued that Williams was underselling herself:

"Jessica Williams, respectfully, I reject your humility. What on earth does 'under-qualified' mean when it comes to being a comedian? You're smart, you're funny, you're self-possessed. Is there something I'm missing?"

Bloom later went on to say that "all Williams needs is a pep talk" and suggested she get "the best Lean In group of all time," referencing Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In initiative.

Williams slammed the article on Twitter Tuesday night, calling the whole thing "incredibly insulting." She laid out her strong objections in a series of tweets:

"Because you have personally decided, that I DON'T know myself- as a WOMAN you are saying that I need to lean in. Are you unaware, how insulting that can be for a fully functioning person to hear that her choices are invalid? Because of my choice, you have diagnosed me with something without knowing me at all. For the world to see. If I wanted my personal choices for myself deemed invalid, I'd go to a mysoginist (sic). This, quite honestly, hurt my feelings. Also don't call me a "victim"? How can you call me a "victim" for making a choice for myself. I'm sorry but how? Is it possible that I know &love myself enough to admit what Im (sic) not ready for?W/out regard to what other people want me to be?"

She then sent the following tweet:

She followed up with a tweet about 30 minutes later that said, "No offense but Lean the (expletive) away from me for the next couple of days. I need a minute."

Bloom later added the following to the bottom of her Billfold article:

"ETA: I apologize for being insensitive here. I should have underlined that of course the choice belongs only to Williams. If she had said, 'I don't want the job,' I would have left it there. Her saying 'I'm not qualified' is what intrigued me, especially since I've read so much about Impostor Syndrome lately and that's so often the language women use.

Again, I want to emphasize that I have enormous respect for Williams. I think she's talented and funny and great. That said, Williams is not accountable to either old white tastemakers or, as the also talented and funny Wyatt Cenac pointed out, to young opinionated ones like me. The decision is entirely hers."