14 Times a Celebrity Responded Remarkably Well to Criticism
Unfortunately, we must give credit where it’s due when a celebrity doesn’t defend their worst comments and actions.
Hugh Grant
Jon Stewart said that Grant was the worst guest they’d ever had on The Daily Show, and “we’ve had dictators on the show.” Grant copped to being a real turd: “Turns out my inner crab got the better of me with TV producer in ‘09. Unforgivable. J Stewart correct to give me kicking.”
Hailey Bieber
A TikToker blew up in 2020 when she shared stories about her encounters with celebrities as a restaurant hostess. Her story about Bieber was particularly unflattering: “I’ve met her a handful of times and she was not nice. I really want to like her but I give her, like, a 3.5 out of 10. Sorry.” Bieber jumped into the comments to validate and apologize: “Hate hearing that was your experience with me but glad u called me out so I can do better!! Hope we meet again so I can apologize in person.”
Melissa McCarthy
After film critic Rex Reed called her a “gimmick comedian who has devoted her short career to being obese and obnoxious with equal success,” she responded with more grace than he deserved: “I felt really bad for someone who is swimming in so much hate. I just thought, ‘That’s someone who’s in a really bad spot, and I am in such a happy spot.’”
Melissa McCarthy (Again)
She took note of a film critic who published an opinion that her husband, who’d directed her in 2014’s Tammy, should be punished for allowing her to act while ugly. She later ran into this critic at the Toronto Film Festival, and unleashed: “Would you say that to any guy? When John C. Reilly — or any actor — is playing a character that is depressed and dejected, would you say, ‘Well, you look terrible!?’”
Amy Schumer
After film blogger Jeffrey Wells complained that Judd Apatow kept assaulting his eyes with “chubby, whipsmart, not conventionally attractive” actors like Melissa McCarthy, Lena Dunham and Amy Schumer, the latter posted a series of pictures of her in exaggerated Hollywood starlet-esque makeup and prosthetics, saying, “Loving your feedback on my appearance. Am I ok now?... Hollywood here I come.”
Emily Blunt
After an old interview surfaced, people roundly criticized her for fat-shaming a random person in her boring anecdote: “The girl who was serving me was enormous. I think she got freebie meals at Chili’s…” Blunt responded with what felt like genuine remorse: “My jaw was on the floor watching this clip from 12 years ago. I’m appalled that I would say something so insensitive, hurtful, and unrelated to whatever story I was trying to tell on a talk show.”
Jack Whitehall
While guest hosting the Graham Norton Show in 2019, an audience member recounted a time when she had attended the show with Whitehall as a guest: “A certain guest on the sofa that night really didn’t like my story, and he was rather rude! He actually said, ‘Is that the best story she could come up with? Who does she bloody think she is?’” Whitehall responded, mortified: “Oh my god, it’s me… I sent you a message didn’t I?” The woman confirmed that he had indeed sent her a personal message apologizing for his behavior.
Jamie Dornan
Early in his career, a critic said that he had the charisma of oatmeal. He was asked about it years later, and was able to see a silver lining: “Some people like oatmeal, so I thought it was kind of harsh. I remember that stuck with me, and I don’t entirely disagree with it either.”
Janelle Monae
A dork on Twitter told her “girl stop being so soulful and be sexy..tired of those dumbass suits.” She responded “sit down. I'm not for male consumption.” For his part, the troll replied “Yes, ma'am.”
Roger Ebert
Don’t criticize a guy whose job is to be professionally critical. After Ebert negatively reviewed a 2003 film called The Brown Bunny, filmmaker Vincent Gallo made some low blows about Ebert’s weight, and claimed he put a hex on Ebert’s colon. In response, Ebert said he watched his own colonoscopy on a TV screen and it “was still more entertaining than The Brown Bunny.”
Roger Ebert (Again)
After film critic Patrick Goldstein said that Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo didn’t get any Oscar noms because there’s no “Best Running Penis Joke Delivered by a Third-Rate Comic” category, respected filmmaker Rob Schneider took out magazine ads saying that Goldstein deserved the Pulitzer for “Third-Rate, Unfunny Pompous Reporter.” Ebert swooped in to defend his profession, saying that as a Pulitzer Prize winner, he was qualified to declare that the movie “sucked.”
James Corden
A BBC Radio host called Corden’s voice in Peter Rabbit irritating. What Corden did well here was keep his mouth shut; instead, he let his dad write into the show with a very level-headed but deeply offended admonition: “To hear you describe our son as ‘appallingly irritating’ was very difficult to listen to.”
Rosalie Chiang and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan
A film critic named Sean O’Connell complained that Turning Red, a movie set in an Asian community in Canada, was “not made for” a guy named Sean O’Connell. In response, the voice actors very kindly explained that “this is a coming of age film, everyone goes through this change. At the end of the day, the core messiness and change is something everyone can relate to” and that the messages apply “regardless of whether you are a young Chinese girl from Canada or not.”
Daniel Kaluuya
When an interviewer asserted, perhaps not entirely un-racistly, that Get Out was nominated for Best Picture because it “ticked a lot of boxes in some ways,” Kaluuya responded, “They’re not boxes though. Articulating a Black experience is not a box.”
