So, we made it through the Oscars without anything going terribly wrong: no slaps on stage nor wrong best picture winner announcements.
Instead, one of the biggest controversies from the event appears to be the one involving Ashley Graham and Hugh Grant's incredibly painful to watch red carpet interview.
During it, Graham attempted to ask the actor a series of benign questions, and he gave her very little to work with. He also referenced the novel Vanity Fair, but the model thought he was talking about the Vanity Fair Oscars after-party, resulting in one of the most awkward conversations ever broadcast.
But while one reading of this situation is that Grant was being curt and dismissive, another is that he was just being... British. Seriously, the internet cannot agree on which it was.
First up, there's the "definitely rude" contingent.
One Twitter user summed it up with the words, "hugh grant wants no part of this dumb s**t"
hugh grant wants no part of this dumb shit pic.twitter.com/uBQ70QcZGfMarch 12, 2023
Meanwhile, editor Laura Bassett wrote:
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"Lol Hugh Grant just gave the most dickish red carpet interview I’ve ever seen—Ashley Graham: Who are you most excited to see tonight?!
Hugh: To see?
AG: To see win
Hugh: No one in particular
AG: Okay. Who are you wearing?
Hugh: My suit"
As a British person who's lived in America, I'm inclined to agree a little bit with Bassett here—I mean, he really could have given poor Graham a little more material.
Then, there's the contingent that believes Graham shouldn't have been conducting interviews, since she's not an experienced journalist.
"So I don’t think he was that rude, but I do think she was underprepared. I don’t blame her for that though, this is what happens when you pluck people from other professions and decide they’ll be great interviewers," wrote broadcaster Louise McSharry.
Writer Freya Drohan tweeted, "That Ashley Graham & Hugh Grant interview is so awkward to watch—but proof that we need more JOURNALISTS and reporters on the red carpet who are equipped for what's actually a much harder job than people think"
That Ashley Graham & Hugh Grant interview is so awkward to watch—but proof that we need more JOURNALISTS and reporters on the red carpet who are equipped for what's actually a much harder job than people thinkMarch 13, 2023
But the most popular opinion of all seems to be that there's been a serious cultural misread here.
One Twitter user wrote, "Interesting divide on Hugh Grant's behaviour at the Oscars last night. I've carefully collated the discourse and offer the following analysis:
"Americans: he was impolite, ungrateful, dismissive, rude, belligerent, cantankerous, unhelpful.
"British people: lol lmao"
Writer Patrick Lenton commented, "the way whole swathes of america think this is hugh grant being rude, but it's actually just one of the rare situations of an older british man who is in a good mood and nobody is getting his humour"
And author Natasha Devon said, "In some ways it’s rather reassuring to perceive that Britain hasn’t entirely turned into the US, culturally - As demonstrated by reactions to the Hugh Grant/Ashley Graham interview (Americans think he was being rude, British people know he was just not being fake)."
I genuinely still don't know.
In some ways it’s rather reassuring to perceive that Britain hasn’t entirely turned into the US, culturally - As demonstrated by reactions to the Hugh Grant/Ashley Graham interview (Americans think he was being rude, British people know he was just not being fake).March 13, 2023
Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Bustle and Shape. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.
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