Fun
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Adventurous
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Curious
Romantic
Weird
And so, ladies and gentleman, we come to the part of the awards show cycle where celebrities have to eat a slice of humble pie and apologize for the mistakes they inevitably made during the previous night’s live event. Who’s cutting a piece this morning? None other than the daughter of former president George W. Bush herself, Jenna Bush Hager.
During a pre-show interview with Pharrell for the 74th Golden Globes, Hager mentioned that musical the artist and record producer was nominated for Hidden Fences. Astute fans of pop culture may realize that Hidden Fences is not a movie. Instead, it’s an amalgamation of two very different, critically-acclaimed, and Golden Globe-nominated — Hidden Figures and Fences. Both movies also feature predominantly African-American casts, and as you may remember, awards shows and diversity do not have the greatest relationship (#OscarsSoWhite anyone?). After Michael Keaton made the same mistake, saying that Octavia Spencer was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Hidden Fences, the fake movie started trending on Twitter. It’s an embarrassing mistake that, though unintentional, belittles the work of these two incredible films while testing Hollywood’s already tenuous grasp with diversity. Well, now that Hager knows the internet’s wrath is upon her, it’s apology time.
During Monday’s Today Show, Hager explained her gaffe as she fought back tears:
“If I offended people, I am deeply sorry. It was a mistake… What I didn’t want to do is make anyone feel lesser than who they are. It was a mistake and I hope we can all move on.”
Al Roker was also on the show to defend his colleague. “Honest mistakes happen in live television,” Roker said. “And this culture of Twitter and people waiting to pounce on people — it’s gotta stop. It’s just ridiculous… And for the New York Times to repeat these tweets, it’s a cheap shot.” You can watch the full apology below.
Roker makes a fair point. Mistakes do happen. For example, during the same event, Roker mistakenly referred to Jessica Biel as Jessica Alba. However, in Jenna Bush Hager and Michael Keaton’s cases, their on-camera flubs are backed by a controversial history.
