Jennifer Aniston is ‘so over’ cancel culture: ‘I just don’t understand what it means’
Jennifer Aniston wants to cancel cancel culture.
“I’m so over cancel culture,” the “Friends” star told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Monday. “I probably just got canceled by saying that. I just don’t understand what it means. … Is there no redemption? I don’t know. I don’t put everybody in the Harvey Weinstein basket.”
Aniston, whose Apple TV+ program “The Morning Show” deals directly with the topics at the center of the #MeToo movement, went on to clarify that although she was never personally victimized by Weinstein, she also doesn’t recall any pleasant interactions with the now-disgraced producer.
Jennifer Aniston says younger people find ‘Friends’ offensive, comedy is tricky these days and that especially here and now, ‘The world needs humor!’
“He’s not a guy, you’re like, ‘God, I can’t wait to hang out with Harvey.’ Never,” she said. “You were actually like, ‘Oh, God, OK, suck it up.’ I remember actually, he came to visit me on a movie to pitch me a movie. And I do remember consciously having a person stay in my trailer.”
Weinstein told WSJ in response that Aniston “never had any uncomfortable instances with me.”
This wasn’t the first time the “Murder Mystery” actor, who is also an executive producer on “The Morning Show,” has spoken out about the current state of cultural sensibilities.
Fallen Hollywood titan Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for committing a criminal sex act against a production assistant and for raping an aspiring actress.
“Now it’s a little tricky because you have to be very careful, which makes it really hard for comedians, because the beauty of comedy is that we make fun of ourselves, make fun of life,” Aniston told the French outlet AFP in March. “[In the past] you could joke about a bigot and have a laugh — that was hysterical. And it was about educating people on how ridiculous people were. And now we’re not allowed to do that.
“There’s a whole generation of people, kids, who are now going back to episodes of ‘Friends’ and find them offensive,” Aniston added. “There were things that were never intentional and others … well, we should have thought it through — but I don’t think there was a sensitivity like there is now.”
Especially in the United States, where everyone is “far too divided,” we can’t “take ourselves too seriously,” Aniston told AFP.
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The Emmy winner also spoke with the WSJ about how her parents’ tumultuous marriage has affected how she views her own romantic relationships.
“My parents, watching my family’s relationship, didn’t make me kind of go, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to do that,’” she said. “I didn’t like the idea of sacrificing who you were or what you needed, so I didn’t really know how to do that. So it was almost easier to just be kind of solo. So I didn’t have any real training in that give-and-take.”
Aniston noted she’s currently in a phase of self-discovery and prioritizing her own desires.
“It’s just about not being afraid to say what you need and what you want,” she said. “And it’s still a challenge for me in a relationship. I’m really good at every other job I have.”
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