Rose McGowan called Natalie Portman just another one of the “frauds” for her pro-female directors dress that she wore Sunday to the Academy Awards show.
“The kind of protest that gets rave reviews from the mainstream media for its bravery. Brave? No, not by a long shot,” the 46-year-old actress wrote in a lengthy post on Facebook. The post was noted by Variety magazine. “More like an actress acting the part of someone who cares. As so many of them do.” (RELATED: One Movie Is Expected To Obliterate The Box Office. The Numbers Are Huge)
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“I find Portman’s type of activism deeply offensive to those of us who actually do the work,” she added. “I’m not writing this out of bitterness, I am writing out of disgust. I just want her and other actresses to walk the walk.”(RELATED: Watch The Latest Electric Trailer For ‘Captain Marvel’)
I think one of my favorite hobbies is watching the Wokes eat each other. https://t.co/HWfsP0NObj
— Rachel Bovard (@rachelbovard) February 12, 2020
McGowan continued, “Natalie, you have worked with two female directors in your very long career- one of them was you. You have a production company that has hired exactly one female director- you.” (The outlet noted that Portman has worked with numerous female directors, including Mira Nair for “New York, I Love You,” Rebecca Zlotowski for “Planetarium” and Vanita Shastry for “The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards.”) (RELATED: Judge Reportedly Scolds Harvey Weinstein Mid-Trial For Cellphone Use)
The “Charmed” actress then said it was actress’ like Portman who were the “real problem.”
“You are the problem,” Rose wrote. “Lip service is the problem. Fake support of other women is the problem. I am singling you out because you are the latest in a long line of actresses who are acting the part of a woman who cares about other women.”
“Actresses who supposedly stand for women, but in reality do not do much at all,” she aded. “Of course women in the world will keep buying the perfumes you promote, the movies you make, and think they’re buying into who you are. But who are you?”
McGowan continued, “there is no law that says you need to hire women, work with women, or support women. By all means, you do you. But I am saying stop pretending you’re some kind of champion for anything other than yourself.”
“As for me, I’ll be over here raising my voice and fighting for change without any compensation,” the “Scream” actress concluded. “That is activism. Until you and your fellow actresses get real, do us all a favor and hang up your embroidered activist cloak, it doesn’t hang right.”
The “Black Swan” star has since responded to the criticism with a statement to the Hollywood Reporter that included praise for those women testifying against Harvey Weinstein.
“I agree with Ms. McGowan that it is inaccurate to call me ‘brave’ for wearing a garment with women’s names on it,” Portman’s statement said. “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, under incredible pressure.”
“It is true I’ve only made a few films with women,” she added. “In my long career, I’ve only gotten the chance to work with female directors a few times – I’ve made shorts, commercials, music videos and features with Marya Cohen, Mira Nair, Rebecca Zlotowski, Anna Rose Holmer, Sofia Coppola, Shirin Neshat and myself. Unfortunately, the unmade films I have tried to make are a ghost history.”