Serena Williams, a Paris restaurant and the danger of online reviews in 2024

Stars, they’re just like us: They post negative reviews of restaurants online too. Even during the Paris Olympics.

Just look at Serena Williams’ tweet from earlier this week: “Yikes @peninsulaparis I’ve been denied access to rooftop to eat in a empty restaurant of nicer places but never with my kids,” the tennis champion posted on X. “Always a first.”

USA TODAY has reached out to Williams for comment; the restaurant contacted her directly.

This incident is in line with a greater trend we’ve seen in recent years: Venting on the internet has become the new way to complain. Instead of leaving a one-star Yelp review, or sharing a bad experience with family and friends, disgruntled customers can go on TikTok, go viral and go nuclear on a place − or person − they feel has wronged them.

The restaurant, for its part, offered statements to media outlets apologizing to Williams while claiming it was fully booked. It replied to her tweet: “Please accept our deepest apologies for the disappointment you encountered tonight. Unfortunately, our rooftop bar was indeed fully booked and the only unoccupied tables you saw belonged to our gourmet restaurant, L’Oiseau Blanc, which was fully reserved.”

It’s unclear exactly what happened, though as is usually the case in incidents of this nature, people on both sides have weighed in. “French racism is truly unique,” one X user wrote, while others felt the restaurant was in the right: “If they’re booked, they’re booked and it’s entitled as heck to be upset that they didn’t figure it out because ‘I’m special.'”

Be it a bakery, tattoo parlor, airline or bar, anyone can find themselves at the mercy of thousands of angry bandwagoners ready to carry out justice on an organization or person they don’t know. It’s that much more of a pile-on when the person making the assertion is famous themselves.

Experts say this phenomenon is about more than an individual incident. It’s about the urge to pick a side and a need to feel validated by others − even if they have no real connection to either party.

‘A sense of powerlessness’: Why people get the urge to seek revenge online
The internet, and especially TikTok in recent years, has taken venting to the next level. When we feel we’ve been given the short end of the stick, we seek out those who will tell us we’re right, experts explain, and in viral posts, people are able to find thousands of people who will agree with them. Those following recent incidents − such as #CakeGate or #TattooGate − are enthralled by the drama, in part, because humans are hardwired to be social and take sides depending on who they most identify with. The same goes for Serena Williams and the Paris restaurant.