Jennifer Lawrence Says She Wasn't Rude To Joanna Lumley: 'It Was An Inside Joke'
Jennifer Lawrence is Hollywood's golden girl, but the Red Sparrow actress is being criticized as rude and disrespectful to Joanna Lumley at the BAFTAs.
Just A Misunderstanding
It was during the 2018 British Academy Film Awards when Lawrence took the stage with host Lumley. When the latter introduced her as the "hottest actress on the planet," it was the 27-year-old actress' reaction that drew the ire of the audience.
"That was a bit much, but thank you Joanna," Lawrence quipped.
Her words may seem innocuous, but the Red Sparrow star is taking a lot of flak for it as she gets accused of rudeness or throwing shade to Lumley. In an interview with Ronan Keating on the Magic Radio Breakfast Show, the Academy Award winner takes the time to clear up the issue.
Speaking to @RonanOfficial on #MagicBreakfast, Jennifer Lawrence clears up the 'rude' controversy with Joanna Lumley from last night's #BAFTAs! pic.twitter.com/z7X7NSkKIk — Magic Radio – More of the Songs You Love (@magicfm) February 19, 2018
"Everybody thought that I was being rude," Lawrence says. "But to be fair, I couldn't have just walked out after she was like, 'Biggest movie star in the world!!' I'd just walked out and gone 'Thank you Joanna.' It would have been like, 'So you agree? You think you're really pretty!'"
Lawrence, with her Mean Girls reference, explains that she just doesn't want to agree with Lumley's proclamation of her as the hottest. Apparently, the actress told the host to be nice to her when they were backstage, but she wasn't expecting the extent of the compliments.
"I wasn't being rude, it was an inside joke," she concludes.
While Lawrence wasn't trying to offend Lumley, she still reached out after the awards show to apologize for the potentially rude exchange. She revealed that the host simply brushed off the incident, saying Lumley said she doesn't even get what the actress was apologizing for.
No Break For Lawrence
All the Hollywood drama may be a lot to deal with, but Lawrence isn't looking to leave anytime soon. During the press rounds of Red Sparrow, the A-list actress said that she's planning to take a year off to work with the Represent.Us organization.
However, while her relationship with the non-profit organization has been well-documented, Lawrence tells EW directly that she'll be back at work once one of the projects she's signed on for is in production.
Just this year, Lawrence has two films set to be released: Red Sparrow and X-Men: Dark Phoenix. She also has several other films in development including Bad Blood, Zelda, Burial Rites, an untitled movie with her pal Amy Schumer, and a few more.
Red Sparrow is slated to be in theaters on Friday, March 2.
