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The first American woman to captain a cruise ship schools internet troll in viral video

Oct. 07, 2020
3 min read
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The first American woman to captain a cruise ship schools internet troll in viral video
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The first mistake the internet troll made was questioning a woman's ability to be a cruise ship captain.

The second mistake he or she made (we suspect it's a he) was directing the comments at Kate McCue, the social media-savvy captain of Celebrity Cruises' one-year-old Celebrity Edge.

"How can you be a captain? Your [sic] only a woman," the unnamed commenter wrote on one of McCue's social media pages.

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Captain Kate, as she is known by her many fans, responded this week with what is likely the most viral 45-second video in the history of cruising. Now bouncing around TikTok, Instagram and Twitter, it already has been watched, shared and commented on many millions of times.

"Normally, when I'm scrolling through comments and I see something like this, I totally ignore it and move on with my life," McCue, speaking from Celebrity Edge's bridge, says at the start of the video. "But I think it's about high time that I address this, because it's 2020, and in this day and age, I'm shocked ..."

McCue then pauses for dramatic effect, before going in an unexpected direction.

"... that someone still doesn't know the difference between you're and your."

Slam. Internet troll, you are officially McCued!

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McCue then serves up the coup de grace with a few more artfully designed phrases.

"So just a quick reference: You're -- as in 'you are' -- like, 'you are sexist.' Your is something possessive, it belongs to you, like 'your ignorance.' But don't worry. I'm here for you. If you need any more clarification, you can find me here. In my captain's chair."

As she says those last words, she eases back into the captain's chair on Celebrity Edge as sparkles pop up on the screen around her.

McCue, who is something a rock star among cruise captains, is known as one of the wittiest celebrities in the cruising world. Among cruise world personalities, she has one of the biggest followings on social media, including nearly 200,000 followers on Instagram and more than 300,000 followers on TikTok.

She's also a trailblazer. In 2015, when she took command of Celebrity Summit, she became the first American woman to captain a major cruise vessel.

In the years since, she's moved her way up to the top post on Celebrity Edge, one of the most advanced cruise vessels at sea. As the captain of the ship, she oversees a staff of nearly 1,400 people.

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