Warning: This post contains discussion of body image issues.
Emily Blunt was in some hot water once a 2012 talk show appearance resurfaced, showing her body shaming a restaurant employee.
Fans of the Oppenheimer actor rediscovered a YouTube clip of her appearance on the Jonathan Ross Show in Sept. 2012, where she recalled a story about a Chili's server, unnecessarily referring to the waiter's weight.
In the clip, this is how the story goes: "So, we went out for dinner at Chili's," Emily began. "The girl serving me was enormous, you know. I think she got freebie meals at Chili's."
"Nothing wrong with that," Jonathan replied. Although to be fair, it was actually Jonathan who introduced the word to the conversation. In the full interview, he began the conversation with, "You ever been to Chili's? When you go to Chili's, you can see why so many of our American friends are enormous." He then describes the large portion of burgers served.
Keeping up the conversation, in her Kansas accent, Emily continued her story, "And she comes out, and she goes, 'Did anyone ever tell you — you look like like Emily Blunt?'" To which Emily responds, "I have heard that yes."
The waiter asked once more if she was Emily Blunt, and when she confirmed, the waiter screamed, "What are y'all doing here?!"
Emily then explained to the waiter that she was in town to film Rian Johnson's third film, the 2012 science thriller, Looper, which also starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis.
Of course, the waiter didn't believe her and replied, "Looper? Y'all just made that up."
Now, Emily has issued an apology through People to address her insensitive 2012 interview.
"I just need to address this head-on as my jaw was on the floor watching this clip from 12 years ago," Emily told People. "I'm appalled that I would say something so insensitive, hurtful, and unrelated to whatever story I was trying to tell on a talk show."
"I've always considered myself someone who wouldn't dream of upsetting anyone, so whatever possessed me to say anything like this in that moment is unrecognizable to me or anything I stand for."
"And yet it happened, and I said it, and I'm so sorry for any hurt caused. I was absolutely old enough to know better."
There were fans who initially reacted to the shortened viral clip with disgust:
The actual interaction with the waitress was a cute funny story, she could have just said that cuz there was zero need to describe the waitress… it added nothing to the story, just flat out rude
While the viral clip presented that Emily used inappropriate language out of nowhere, she was, in fact, prompted with the word, so in my opinion, the ownership of her mistake is even more admirable.
Many fans have praised the Devil Wears Prada actor for taking ownership of her insensitive language:
I believe she’s being genuine. A lot can change in a decade.
I mean… people can change the way they think in 11 years. Pretty sure most people criticizing her used to say the same thing or even worse 11 years ago
Love this. We all say things that we regret. It’s impossible to filter everything that we say. All we can do is apologise if we offend and keep living.
i love that she had no ego to admit it was indeed a very insensitive thing to say and completely unrelated too. this speaks volumes when it comes to one’s growth. so many would brush this off and say those who got offended are “soft”. really cool and mature of her.
