America’s love affair with Jennifer Lawrence hit a slight bump Sunday night, after she had accepted her Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, for her lead performance in “Joy.” She responded to a reporter using his cell phone while asking her questions at the following press conference.
“You can’t live your whole life behind your phone, bro. You can’t do that, you’ve got to live in the now.”
The reporter apologized, and then continued asking how Jennifer Lawrence would see herself at the Oscars, when she cut him off again with another reprimand:
“We’re at the Golden Globes. If you put your phone down, you’d know that.”
So was she rude or just speaking her mind? Scroll down to the bottom to see the interview. Most commentators online seem to be of the opinion that she went too far, trying to be funny at the reporter’s expense and coming off as rude and obnoxious. Listening to the footage you can hear a strong foreign accent, leading many to believe the reporter used his phone to help him get the questions right in English. But one reporter, Chris Trondsen, tweeted lengthily to her defense:
“There are a lot of negative rumors going around that she was disrespectful to a reporter & rude because English isn’t his first language. It’s sad because I was right there in the front row & that’s just NOT true! The reporter was holding up his phone, taking photos + video of Jennifer while asking his question and she found it distracting. I found it distracting too. She asked him to put his phone down. Then, she had literally JUST won a Golden Globe & he asked about the Oscars just seconds after winning. It wasn’t the time or place. She handled it in usual Jennifer Lawrence humor & the reporter himself laughed as well as the rest of the press. Don’t believe the rumors.”
If so, America’s love affair with Jennifer Lawrence may continue. We’ve seen her play strong women onscreen – she saved her siblings in “Winter’s Bone,” her family in “Joy” and the whole world in the “Hunger Games” trilogy. But she also takes strong stands off camera, being a strong voice against misogyny.
Her essay published in the feminist newsletter “Lenny” elaborated on the wage gap between male and female leads. While acknowledging her privileged position as a working woman with problems not exactly relatable, she nevertheless choose to take a stand. Having found out through a hacked Sony account that she was paid half of what the leading men was paid for their work on “American Hustle,” she attributed it to bad negotiation skills on her part, due to a female fear of being difficult:
“I saw the payroll on the Internet and realized every man I was working with definitely didn’t worry about being ’difficult’ or ’spoiled.’ [It is] an element of my personality that I’ve been working against for years, and based on the statistics, I don’t think I’m the only woman with this issue.”
The essay made such an impact that Ricky Gervais included it in his 2015 recap when introducing the Golden Globes. He described the importance of demanding equal pay for women in Hollywood, but went on to joke about her speaking from a privileged position, and imagining marches on the streets with nurses and factory workers wondering how a 25 year old can live on 52 million dollars. He concluded though that jokes aside, of course women should have the same pay as men.
Jennifer Lawrence explained in a recent interview for Vogue that she was raised a Republican but can’t imagine supporting a party which doesn’t support women’s basic rights. She went on to reenforce her support for the Democrats by saying:
“My view on the election is pretty cut-and-dried: If Donald Trump is president of the United States, it will be the end of the world. And he’s also the best thing to happen to the Democrats ever.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FVByjQ5rsE
While the Golden Globe Award kicked off the new year with a bang for Jennifer Lawrence, the opening of “Joy” marked a grand ending of a fantastic 2015. Entertainment Weekly acknowledged this by choosing her for the cover of the December 4 issue with the attribute “Entertainer of the Year.” The previous week she was featured on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter as one of the eight most talented actresses with Awards-worthy work out right now, together with Cate Blanchett, Jane Fonda, Brie Larson, Helen Mirren, Carey Mulligan, Charlotte Rampling and Kate Winslet.
The talent pool came together to participate in the annual Actress Roundtable, where Lawrence continued to discuss women’s equality issues, like how women get frustrated not to get paid enough, when the Republicans or the CEOs that are men say it’s because women took off time for maternity leave. The full conversation aired on “Close Up With The Hollywood Reporter” Sunday, Jan 10, at 11 a.m. ET on Sundance TV. It’s available to see on The Hollywood Reporter. Don’t miss!
