The fallout over the Hugh Grant – Ashley Graham Oscar red carpet interview is still raging and to paraphrase what Dave Grohl sings, “I’ve got a confession to make… and I’m no fool.”
I interviewed Hugh Grant on a red carpet for Entertainment Weekly and he was absolutely delightful while displaying a very droll, British sense of humor. But then again, I was prepared for the interview. I liked him. A lot.
More recently, I attended a press conference that he gave for the Prime Video series A Very English Scandal. He talked about how he wasn’t interested in doing rom-coms anymore and welcomed these sorts of dramatic roles. He also spoke about the British phone hacking scandal in which he was a victim. He handled all the questions with aplomb, even an inane one from a woman sitting next to me. I can safely say he charmed the pants off of everyone in that room, about 25 reporters, especially the women. Come on, people, you know what I’m talking about.
Watching the last portion of the Oscars red carpet, I didn’t know who Ashley Graham was. But I was wondering why ABC hired her for the job as she brought absolutely nothing to the table. Could they have tapped someone from Good Morning America or even an affiliate station’s entertainment reporter?
Every single one of her interviews was incredibly superficial, inane and bordering on idiotic. It was a travesty. Compare that to Laverne Cox on E!, another non-journalist who was incredibly prepared and did an excellent job interviewing people walking in. Yes, she did ask everyone what and who they were wearing. That’s to be expected.
When Ashley’s Glass Onion question to Hugh slipped and fell, she could have pivoted to asking him about his character in Paddington or co-presenting an award with his Four Weddings and a Funeral co-star Andie McDowell. But she obviously didn’t know any of this. It was so cringeworthy to watch– and I still don’t get how she got this gig. Or why. Do we need representation from models?
So I will leave it with this, as someone on Twitter said, with 60k likes and counting: Hugh Grant wants no part of this dumb shit.
