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The Fleeting Hollywood Feminism of Chris O’Dowd

The Mary Sue jumps up to praise Chris O’Dowd, who you may remember as that adorable cop in Bridesmaids, for defending Megan Fox in her dust-up with director Michael Bay. “I don’t know the ins and outs of it but it’s all down to having a fallout with Michael Bay,” he said in an interview. “But who wouldn’t have a fallout with him? It’s one of the sexist things (sic) I’ve ever seen. She called him an asshole. Well, he is a fucking asshole. She’s not the only one who has said that. Why has she been singled out?” Not exactly verbal genius or an articulate breakdown of sexism in Hollywood, but given what we get most of the time, it’s what passes for praiseworthy.

What my pals at The Mary Sue neglect to mention, however, is that O’Dowd almost immediately took back his remarks, making it clear that he wasn’t calling out one of the most sexist directors in Hollywood for being sexist — he wanted to be clear that it’s the mean ol’ press that’s to blame. O’Dowd wrote on his blog:

What I actually said was; ‘The way the Press gleefully dealt with the firing of a young woman was one of the most sexist things I’ve ever seen. People shouldn’t revel in seeing anyone lose a job. The dismissal of an old male actor would never have been welcomed with the same joy and ridicule.’ It was naive of me to assume a remark aimed at the sexism in the entertainment press would reach its target in the entertainment press. I’m new to all this and that was stupid of me.

As Teju Cole writes, “we agree that there is rampant misogyny, but misogynists are nowhere to be found; homophobia is a problem but no one is homophobic.” Particularly not when they’re in charge of billion dollar franchises, and might be in a position to kick some of that money in your direction.

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