Much like Dian Fossey and the gorillas (amazing band name), I consider myself a keen observer of celebrities. As I study their culture, via social media and podcasts by gay people, I find that I generally have more in common with gorillas than I do with famous people. But I’ve noticed there is an area that levels the playing field somewhat. There’s one thing that all humans kind of suck at: apologising. In fact, apologising is one area where normals may actually be at an advantage.
Our mistakes are not usually talked about, except among group chats and our mean colleagues. In the era of Finding Out Everything About Celebrities Often Against Our Will, the “celebrity apology” has become much more of a factor in our lives. Their mistakes are public instantly worldwide, their apologies dissected, with high stakes for their careers. There are also stakes for fans. One of the risks of attempting to fill the void by enjoying things is that you might connect to someone’s work and one day that person might do something annoying, shitty or even unforgivable.
There is a scale of wrongness, obviously, and a lot rides on the public apology (if we get one). Just like real people in real life, celebrities pump out a lot of unfulfilling or straight-up bad apologies, but their scope for failure is wider and more powerful. When Glee’s Lea Michele was accused of bullying on set years earlier by a colleague, her 2020 apology was criticised for deflection and talking about being “perceived” as inappropriate. Roseanne once blamed a racist tweet on sleeping pills. Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis’ video apology for writing letters in support of Danny Masterson at his sexual assault trial also copped backlash, because they couldn’t manage to seem sorry.
The rise of social media has seen a rise in sorries, as celebrities discover myriad ways to cancel themselves by posting directly on social media, instead of through PR filters. There are many examples of celebrity apologies, non-apologies and never-given apologies. You would assume young celebs would be more online savvy but it continues – just last month, Emily Hampshire from Schitt’s Creek dressed with a pal as court-era Johnny Depp and Amber Heard for Halloween, then said in her apology that “domestic abuse is never, ever funny”. Unsurprisingly, this didn’t come off as particularly sincere when she had thought it was funny very shortly before, and the only difference was that now everyone knew about it.
A few weeks ago when I was scientifically observing celebrity culture (mindlessly scrolling through TikTok), I was gutted to come across a video of Emily Blunt on a talkshow years earlier, making a fatphobic remark about a waitress.
Emily Blunt being blatantly fatphobic wasn’t on my 2023 bingo card but here we are pic.twitter.com/iD4fyMFF0t
— orca supporter (@justmarahere) October 19, 2023
As a huge (some might say enormous) Emily Blunt and Emily Blunt’s Arms in Edge of Tomorrow fan, I was really disappointed. I watched the longer clip, which gives slightly more context but doesn’t excuse the cruel comment. I was sad. I didn’t think she should be cancelled for a decade-old comment but I also knew that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy her work nearly as much any more. It’s probably easier to “separate the art from the artist” if the thing the person did is theoretical to you and doesn’t immediately enter your brain when their face comes up on the screen. I just want to drink my frozen Coke in peace without being reminded that everyone hates fat people. Celebs, they are just like you!
It’s not that big of a deal in the scheme of things; obviously there are much worse things actors can do that make me stop watching. This was a small drop but it was still enough to extinguish the candle I held for her. It’s really annoying! I can no longer enjoy the work of an actor I like because she said a mean, unnecessary thing about someone like me. Why should I be punished TWICE? Luckily, I wasn’t, because Emily Blunt released an apology that didn’t suck.
I actually think she could have gotten away with never addressing the clip. It hadn’t really blown up, and she is a rich and popular white woman with an English accent. On top of that, few people in society really care about fatphobia, and she would have almost certainly faced no long-term repercussions. It’s not as though she said something mean about a gay person or a puppy. It was only a fat woman! Not to give her too much credit because I like her movies and her arms, but many celebrities take the “shut up and post through it” tactic, and it probably would have worked in this case.
“I just need to address this head on as my jaw was on the floor watching this clip from 12-years ago,” Blunt says in a statement to People magazine. “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.”
She adds: “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.”
This is straight to the point and genuinely takes responsibility. She’s had the benefit of time but she doesn’t make excuses, and she offers up her own thought that she was old enough to know better. I think you can feel the sincerity in her horror at her own actions, something that we have all experienced at some point.
The only way her apology could be improved is if she had addressed fatphobia head on by name, as it seems to be extremely widespread, if not growing at the moment – but you can’t have everything. What I can have, however, is the treat of still continuing to watch and enjoy Emily Blunt movies, thank god. All she had to do was genuinely apologise.
Sorry, but it’s not that hard.
• Rebecca Shaw is a writer based in Sydney
• This article was amended on 17 November 2023 to correct the name of the conservationist studying gorillas. A previous version incorrectly referred to Jane Goodall.
