Twitter is fiercely debating over the use of the word "auntie" after Ava DuVernay, 46, expressed her discontent with being labelled as such. The When They See Us director jokingly opened up about the "auntie" issue on Tuesday during an interview on Van Lathan’s Red Pill podcast. 

At one point during the interview, Lathan, 39, called DuVernay "Miss Ava," and she questioned whether she and Lathan were "that different in age." This sparked a conversation about labels people have given her in recent years, including "Auntie Ava."

“First of all, I have a real issue with — recently I’ve been getting called on Twitter ‘Auntie Ava,'" the critically-acclaimed director said during the interview.

"You don't like it," Lathan responded. 

“Why? Why? Am I that old? Because I don’t feel that old,” she added. "And it's not a respect thing."

Lathan said that there's not a huge age difference between the two, but perhaps people call her "Auntie" as a sign of reverence.

"I feel like there's more weight that you bring and importance," he added.

Still, DuVernay said that she's "been feeling some kinda way about it,” since people only started calling her "Auntie" in the last year or so — and naturally, Twitter decided to chime in on the convo. 

"I'm with @ava," one user tweeted. "The honorific "Auntie" desexualizes women. It started to bother me when I noticed people using it for Mary J. Mary is putting the young ones to shame; there is no reason to call her Auntie until her knees give out in another twenty years and she decides to park it."

Others said that if she doesn't want people to call her "Auntie," then we need to respect her wishes:

"Folks trying to explain what we mean by calling Ava 'auntie' really doesn’t matter if she doesn’t want to be called that. 'Oh but it’s a sign of respect that means xyz…' That doesn’t matter if she doesn’t want to be addressed as such."

Others suggested that the term is appropriately used out of reverence for certain women:

"So to be clear, the word ‘Auntie’ is used for older fine single women with no kids but she cool sassy and educated, drives a coupe with leopard print interior, stays fresh, about her money and is probably being chased by somebody’s husband?"

Age plays a part of it for others…

… as well as one's friends:

What does the term "auntie" mean to you? Let us know what you think.

Listen to Ava DuVernay's full interview with Van Lathan below — they talk more about When They See Us, a 4-part critically-acclaimed series on Netflix about the Central Park 5.

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