Portman responds to McGowan calling her ‘fraud’ over Oscars cape
LOS ANGELES: Natalie Portman is not arguing with fellow US actress and #MeToo activist Rose McGowan, who said she did not deserve to be called brave for wearing an Oscar dress embroidered with the names of female film-makers overlooked for best director nominations.
"Brave is a term I more strongly associate with actions like those of the women who have been testifying against Harvey Weinstein the last few weeks," Portman said in a statement, referencing the disgraced Hollywood mogul on trial in New York charged with predatory sexual assault.
McGowan, who is one of Weinstein's accusers, had dismissed Oscar-winning star Portman as a "fraud" for wearing the dress.
In a post on Facebook, she said she found Portman's red carpet Oscar protest "deeply offensive to those of us who actually do the work".
McGowan wrote: "Natalie, you have worked with two female directors in your very long career - one of them was you," McGowan wrote.
"You have a production company that has hired exactly one female director - you."
McGowan also said: "Until you and your fellow actresses get real, do us all a favour and hang up your embroidered activist cloak, it doesn't hang right."
Portman noted she has not worked with as many female directors as she would have liked and pointed out challenges films directed by women and minorities were up against. - AFP
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
