Here at Female First, we've been celebrating some of the most successful and talented women in a variety of different industries as part of our inaugural Female First Awards. Today however, we're going to pull the brakes on those celebrations and instead take a look at some of the people and things that have really irritated us over the past 12 months. Here are the five nominees for Villain of the Year 2018 - make sure to check out who our winner is at the end of the piece!

Nominee: Roseanne Barr

ABC made a quick decision following Barr's racist comments this year
ABC made a quick decision following Barr's racist comments this year

If you're the titular star in one of America's most beloved shows which still brings in stellar ratings despite the decline in watching television across the world, it's probably not a good idea to also be a complete and utter racist. Roseanne Barr didn't get the memo and, in a spat with former Obama White House adviser (and woman of colour) Valerie Jarrett, she lashed out by calling her the offspring of the "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes" (sic).

The actress later apologised to Valerie and "all Americans" using her Twitter account, but the damage was done. The ABC network in America pulled the plug on the revival of Roseanne despite the high viewership, firing Barr with immediate effect.

Fortunately for the rest of the cast, a spinoff was announced and everybody but Barr was given the opportunity to make a return.

Nominee: Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Sarah Huckabee Sanders said a little earlier this month that she wants to be remembered as a White House press secretary who was always "transparent and honest". We can say, hand on heart, this is NOT the legacy she's going to leave behind. Far from it.

Acting as the spokesperson for President Donald Trump on a number of issues, she has repeated lies and "alternative facts" (thanks for that one, Kellyanne Conway) to deflect from the real problem at hand; having an egomaniac and fascist like Trump in the White House.

Instead of fighting for equality on behalf of her fellow woman, she has defended the President who has called their intelligence into question.

She even stood by POTUS when he decided to revoke CNN reporter Jim Acosta's press pass - something a court of law later reversed, demanding it be reinstated. The White House quickly backed down on the issue, but Sanders' publishing of an altered video remains online.

This didn't stop supports of the current administration from continuing to tar Acosta with the false label of a man who aggressively put his hands on a woman - an accusation created by Sanders herself.

Nominee: Martin Solveig

He's the only man to make our nominees list this year, but it's for good (well, bad) reason! The French DJ presented the Women's Ballon d'Or Award to Ada Hegerberg during this year's ceremony, but upon handing over the accolade, he asked if she knew "how to twerk". Just let that sink in for a moment if you haven't heard this particular story before. A woman was recognised as the best female football player in the world, and Solveig's first response was to ask her to dance in front of the millions watching the ceremony.

Now think about whether or not Solveig would have done the same if handing the prize over to a man. The answer is as clear as day: of course not!

Blatant sexism within the world of sport is something those fighting for equality are doing a pretty good job of ebbing away at, but there's still a long, long way to go until women are treated in the same way as men, especially when it comes to football.

Solveig has since apologised, but that didn't stop Uefa President Aleksander Čeferin from branding him an "idiot that doesn't know how to behave". Quite the apt description.

Nominee: Brexit

Whether you voted Remain, Leave, or abstained entirely, the discussion of Brexit is something that has the majority of the country feeling disheartened. In just a few months, we're supposed to be leaving the European Union, but of course nobody knows if this is what's actually going to happen.

As a brand we're going to sit on the fence here. We respect the choice that people make in the ballot box, so long as they are based on fact rather than the lies peddled by either side. What we're putting forward as our Villain of the Year nominee is the whole prospect of Brexit; not people who voted for or against it.

That means the chat surrounding it, the hostility thrown towards those who have differing opinions, and the vile environment that has been born as a result of it. No single person can tell us what's going to happen in the future, Brexit or not. What we do know is that we're absolutely fed up of talking about it, when homeless people (some of whom even have jobs) are dying on our streets in record numbers.

Nominee: Tomi Lahren

Conservative political commentator Tomi Lahren was once a woman who simply spouted untruths and racist messages on a YouTube channel, and various forms of social media. Now, she holds a position on American news network Fox News. Perhaps they're who we should be calling the real villains here, but we'll focus on Lahren's remarks over the past 12 months for this one...

What's most disturbing is how she quickly jumped to villifying the parent of a child who died on their attempted emmigration to the United States. A young Guatemalan girl and her father crossed into the country after a 2,000 mile journey through Mexico, but the seven-year-old child died despite making it into the country. Whatever your thoughts on this, Lahren's immediate attempts to paint the immigrant father of the child as an evil person show just what type of "journalist" she really is; one that's willing to go against all morals in a bid to turn anybody who's not American into an enemy of the country.

This is something Lahren has been doing for years, and we imagine it will continue for many to come. Hopefully though, people will stop listening. She's already done enough damage.

by for www.femalefirst.co.uk
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