emma sullivan

Emma Sullivan: Just a gurl, with a powerful voice!

You know we love a gurl who speaks her mind, which is why we’re totally crushed out on 18-year-old Emma Sullivan from Prairie Village Kansas. While at a Youth in Government program, she tweeted about her governor, saying “Just made mean comments at gov. brownback and told him he sucked, in person, #heblowsalot.”

With just those few words, Emma sparked a political uproar. The PR team for Governor Brownback saw her tweet and alerted her school, saying it was “disrespectful.” Then, Emma’s principal demanded that she write the governor a formal apology—but Emma, being awesome and wanting to defend her own freedom of speech, refused.

A powerful governor getting so upset over one little tweet? Ridic!

The tweet was originally supposed to be a joke between friends, but the truth is that Emma doesn’t agree with the governor’s policies to cut state funding for the arts—and with all the attention that’s been stirred up, now thousands of people know that.

Best of all? This story has a happy ending. The governor actually said he was sorry! “My staff overreacted to this tweet,” he said in a statement earlier today, “and for that I apologize.”

Emma, we heart you and all the other gutsy gurls you’ve inspired to speak their minds. Want to follow Emma? Check out her feed—she’s at @emmakate988.

Have you ever been told you couldn’t say what you really felt? Let us know in comments.