Emily Blunt has apologised for referring to a restaurant worker as “enormous” on a chatshow that aired 11 years ago.
In a resurfaced clip from an episode of The Jonathan Ross Show first broadcast on ITV in September 2012, the star of the summer blockbuster Oppenheimer said a waitress who served her at a Chili’s restaurant in Louisiana was “enormous”.
An edited clip of the exchange appeared on TikTok and X this week, with several online commentators accusing Blunt of being “fatphobic”.
Blunt addressed the controversy in a statement to People magazine, in which she said her “jaw was on the floor” watching the clip. “I was appalled that I would say something so insensitive, hurtful, and unrelated to whatever story I was trying to tell on a talkshow.”
She added: “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 unrecognisable 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.”
The comments were part of a story she told about the waitress recognising her while filming the 2012 movie Looper.
In the video, Blunt recalls eating dinner at a local Chili’s restaurant during filming, to which talkshow host Jonathan Ross says: “If you go to Chili’s, you can see why so many of our American friends are enormous.”
Blunt replies: “The girl who was serving me was enormous. I think she got freebie meals at Chili’s.”
Ross responds: “Nothing wrong with that.”
She says the worker then asked her: “Did anyone ever tell you you look like Emily Blunt?”
In Blunt’s story, the waitress soon realised that she was actually speaking to the actor, who explained she was in the area for filming.
