** Jennifer Lawrence was slammed on social media yesterday, after a clip of calling out a reporter for using his phone while speaking to her during her Golden Globes press conference went viral. But were her comments really that bad? **Let's find out...
J-Law was right
*Grazia contributor Edwina Langley says: *
From the outset Jennifer Lawrence is at a disadvantage because we can't see what the reporter is doing with his phone. Her mimicking of him implies he was holding his phone up in front of his face, as if to film her response.
Now, if you were asked a question by a human and had to respond to their phone, wouldn't you find that a bit... I dunno... ANNOYING? Don't we all expect to look someone in the eye when we're talking to them?
Next, to the question itself: 'How do you see yourself for the Oscars night?'. I can see why J-Law gave a rather curt response because it's unclear what he means. 'What do you think your chances are of winning an Oscar?' or 'Are you excited about the night of the Oscars?' or 'What are you wearing for the Oscars...?'. She doesn't even know yet if she'll be nominated for an Oscar!
Yes, the reporter's first language wasn't English but isn't it just standard journalism to prepare questions in advance that you are certain are clear? The very likelihood of being selected to ask a question at one of these things is slim at best; you get one shot and one shot only... you don't want to mess it up!
Finally, in response to her scolding, the reporter laughed... and now he's: 'the guy that J-Law ticked off'. I mean, KUDOS! So, no I don't feel too sorry for him. I say win-win all-round. (And go J-Law... because you're right: turn those darn phones off!)
**So unnecessary **
Writer Elizabeth Atkin says:
‘Calling that reporter out’, no matter how you spin it, was a little bit rude.
Maybe he was reading questions on his phone, or someone had sent him an urgent, unignorable text. He could've been live-tweeting. It's been suggested that the reporter was holding his phone in front of Jennifer's face. Perhaps he was filming Jennifer’s answer to his question for his brand’s Twitter or Instagram, under instruction from his editor?
We can’t say for sure, because we weren’t there. But if you consider those possible scenarios, Jennifer’s comments don’t seem particular well-meaning, just a bit unnecessary.
What happened at that press conference mirrors several separate incidents of journalists and celebrities making each other feel, well, uncomfortable to say the least. Remember Jesse Eisenberg’s painfully sarcastic exchange with Romina Puga? Trying to out-do or embarrass one another doesn’t really achieve anything. The reality is that everyone’s there to get on with their jobs, and neither party needs to make those jobs harder.
It's not like they were friends, joking around. It also took place in a very public setting - what choice did the reporter have but to awkwardly laugh the whole thing off?
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Final word
Is the real issue whether or not Jennifer's joke came off as snarky or 'over it'? Or is it how social media users quickly turn on people the moment they do something someone else doesn't like, or have an unpopular opinion about phone usage, or stop with all the charming GIFable tumbles down the red carpet? Let us know what you think @GraziaUK!