Jenna Ortega has been making the most of her rising star lately, promoting Wednesday season 2 and Beetlejuice 2. Most recently, she talked to Vanity Fair about cancel culture, because there comes a time in every actor’s life when they must talk to a publication like Vanity Fair about cancel culture.
Lest we forget that Ortega dropped out of Scream VII last year, citing scheduling conflicts, right after her co-star, Melissa Barrera, was fired, ostensibly for making pro-Palestine social media posts. The production company behind the film made a statement at the time, essentially denouncing any comments that even vaguely resemble antisemitism.
“The business that we work in is so touchy-feely,” Ortega says of the situation. “Everybody wants to be politically correct, but I feel like, in doing that, we lost a lot of our humanity and integrity because it lacks honesty … I wish that we had a better sense of conversation. Imagine if everyone could say what they felt and not be judged for it and, if anything, it sparked some sort of debate, not an argument.” She then quipped, “Am I describing world peace?”
Sigh. I’m so tired of celebrities talking about healthy debate and conversation without actually taking a stance on anything. This statement, in and of itself, is touchy-feeley. She’s talking about humanity and integrity relying on honesty, while being dishonest about why she left the film and how she felt about Barrera’s statements. One can read between the lines and assume she must agree with Barrera on some level and disagreed with her firing, but instead of saying that, she’s saying she wishes she could say it without getting canceled. And then to bring in world peace totally cheapens her whole argument.
Let me know when a celebrity actually says something new about “political correctness.” In the meantime, I’m over it.