Amy Adams on the ‘Today’ debacle: ‘I was confused & definitely frustrated’

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I really think the Today Show producers made TWO huge mistakes with this whole Amy Adams mess. Their first mistake was kicking her off the show after she told them she didn’t want to discuss the Sony Hack. The second mistake was trying to make Amy sound like some kind of deranged diva and blaming her for the entire incident. I’m sorry, but no one is buying it. Amy has the reputation as one of the nicest, most polite and most hard-working people in Hollywood. She is very definition of “no drama.” And no one will take the word of Today’s producers that Amy is some kind of unhinged, tantrum-prone jackass.

Last we heard, Harvey Weinstein – the producer of Amy’s current film, Big Eyes – was on the warpath. He’s Twihard Proof-ing the Today Show, trying to break down their claims that Amy pitched a fit and made a staffer cry. Harvey wants an investigation. Harvey wants Matt Lauer on his knees, apologizing to Amy in person. Well, Page Six says that Weinstein Company people were in “tense negotiations” with Today Show people late into Christmas Eve (merry Christmas, NBC employees!). And Harvey sent Amy out to say something about the situation directly:

Amy Adams says she is still “really confused” about having her live interview on The Today Show dramatically pulled minutes before it was due to take place Monday morning. Adams told USA TODAY on Tuesday night that she was “surprised” that the segment was unceremoniously canceled after she expressed misgivings over discussing aspects of the Sony hacking scandal on live television.

Speaking at a Los Angeles screening for her new film Big Eyes, Adams says she was supposed to be discussing her movie on The Today Show. But the show producers made a point of telling her team that the Sony hacking fallout would be added to the four-minute TV interview.

“I expressed that I was uncomfortable. I said I would rather not add my voice to this conversation,” Adams said. “But it was clear they were drawing a hard line. That this would be part of the conversation.”

Adams said she assumed the interview would still go on even after her discussion with the producers.

“I walked away from the conversation and went up to the room to do the interview,” Adams said. “I assumed they were going to ask me about (Sony hacking). And I was prepared for that, to whatever degree I was prepared.”

Minutes later Adams was told that the interview was not going to air.

“I was informed that they had decided to pull the interview,” said Adams. “I was confused and definitely frustrated. I still don’t understand.”

The New York Daily News cited unnamed sources saying that Adams “got aggressive” in the discussions.

Adams said she did the unusual step of speaking to the producers rather than media representatives.

“I feel like I don’t have trouble standing up for myself. This was situation I chose to speak for myself,” Adams said.

The Daily Beast reported Dec. 12 that leaked e-mails from Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman Amy Pascal revealed that American Hustle stars Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence received salaries 2% lower than their male co-stars, Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale. Even on Tuesday night, Adams declined to discuss the topic when asked by USA TODAY.

“I am not going to add my voice to that conversation. Even in this room,” said Adams. “You can add that to your story. And that’s fair.”

[From USA Today]

See, that’s what I said at the beginning – Amy is a professional, and she wasn’t “demanding” to not be asked any questions about the Sony Hack, she stated her preference and she was told that she would still get the questions. And she was prepared to answer the questions in a noncommittal, ambivalent way because she really didn’t want to talk about it. After hearing her side of it, it sounds more like Today producers were “punishing” her for simply not wanting to talk about the Sony Hack and for being prepared to say “I don’t want to comment on that” on live television.

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Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

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67 Responses to “Amy Adams on the ‘Today’ debacle: ‘I was confused & definitely frustrated’”

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  1. Kiddo says:

    This fiasco is ridic. The end.

    • mimif says:

      But we’ve only just begun….

      • Kiddo says:

        … to live
        White lace and promises
        A kiss for luck and we’re on our way
        We’ve only begun

        haha, I know this one.

      • Kiddo says:

        UGH, stuck in my head, now. Reminds me of my aunt who loves this song, but still…

      • mimif says:

        If it makes you feel any better, I’ve had the theme song to Malcolm In The Middle stuck in my head since about 4:37am. Specifically, “life is unfair…” on repeat, ad nauseam, bangs head on desk, rinse, repeat.

      • Kiddo says:

        Oh, you HATE ME, don’t you. I’m not sure which song is more annoying. I guess it’s ALL better than Christmas music which was starting to work my last nerve since Halloween.

      • mimif says:

        No I luff you to pieces. Fa ra ra ra ra, ra ra ra ra!

    • Korra says:

      I don’t care. I’m happy with Weinstein right now. He stood up for his actress. Can you not see the big deal about this in Hollywood? I mean I get he has ulterior motives, but people here excuse a bunch of these other a-hats because it helps society blah blah blah.

      Matt Lauer needs to go. And Harvey Weinstein has actually earned a tiny amount of respect from me. Which wasn’t hard, I had none for him initially.

      Team Amy.

  2. GingerCrunch says:

    Eff the effing Today Show. It’s such mind-numbing drivel anyway.

    • Trashaddict says:

      This. Who watches this stuff? Maybe Matt Lauer watches reruns of himself at night? I can think of 50 better things to do with my time.

  3. Po says:

    They tried to bully her and she wasn’t having it.

    • Angela says:

      What I love is that she made it clear that she stood up for herself and spoke her own mind without turning it into a hissy fit. A lot of people, particularly women, who are famous think that standing up for one’s self means making a scene over trivialities. Not Amy.

  4. OrangeBlohan says:

    Matt Lauer is still glib!!

    • Laura says:

      Haha! Truth.

      Team Amy!

      • outstandingworldcitizen says:

        This! I love her more now. She is a great actress. Totally humble real human being who didn’t want to talk about the Sony hack BECAUSE it is of now relevance to promoting her movie. PERIOD. Team Amy!

  5. Tiffany says:

    Amy did nothing wrong, said her piece and is done with it.

    Also, you know it is a cold day in hell when Harvey Weinstein looks better in a situation.

    • Enui says:

      That is exactly what I was thinking! It’ll be interesting to see who blinks first. Weinstein carries a lot of clout, and the Today show could potentially lose a lot of interviews in the near future. No idea if this has Lauer’s fingerprints on it (wouldn’t surprise me), but maybe this could be one step closer to seeing that jerk get canned.

      What is it with the Today show and having male co-hosts who become complete egoists after a few years? Bryant Gumbel was just awful in his last few years on the show after Jane Pauley left. (man, I’m old for remembering all of this).

    • BooBooLaRue says:

      Right? amazing. Good on Amy for being such a class act.

  6. OSTONE says:

    Out with Matt Lauer and the Today show. The third mistake was to bully Amy Adams, super talented, respected and well-liked in the industry. Go after them, Harvey.

    • Dutch says:

      If Harvey and Sony would have paid Adams the same as her male co-stars this wouldn’t have been an issue.

      • Lucy2 says:

        Harvey and Sony didn’t have anything to do with American Hustle, which is the movie she was paid less for.
        But I’d be willing to bet Sony at least pays actresses less, given what was revealed about their corporate salaries.

      • Dutch says:

        Hustle was produced by Columbia Pictures, a Sony Entertainment company. So Sony had everything to do with that movie. I was wrong about Harvey, I thought Annapurna Pictures was part of the Weinstein stable, but they are independent of one another.

      • Lucy2 says:

        You’re right, I forgot Columbia is owned by Sony.

  7. bettyrose says:

    She played an evil hillbilly on one episode of Buffy. I would’ve loved to hear four minutes about how she got in character for that.

  8. Veronica says:

    She’s easily one of the most laid back celebs out there, to the extent that she’s sacrificed being a more well known name for it. I have no idea why they thought slandering her reputation would work, unless they think it’s that easy for the public to eat up the idea of women as dramatic harpies.

  9. jinni says:

    I feel bad for anyone that has to work under Harvey. I’m sure Amy wouldn’t have even bothered to further this story and just let it die since most people wouldn’t even have paid attention to it around this time of year since most are too busy with the holiday season and most of the Sony interest was about Pascal and Jolie, but I guess Harvey gets what Harvey wants.

    Today is going to start losing all the big Hollywood names to GMA if they keep acting like this. They should have jut let her go on and give them whatever she was willing to give them.

  10. Ann says:

    Women are always considered “aggressive” when they don’t let others walk all over them.

  11. Lucy2 says:

    I’m disgusted the Today show tried to paint her as difficult, but they picked on the wrong person- no one believes that she would behave that way and now Today looks even worse for it.
    Harvey is blowing it out of proportion I think though. Today messed up and looks plenty bad for it.

  12. Reece says:

    On the plus side, the movie is getting more promo because the Today producers were jerks than it would have if they had just gone on with it.

  13. lora says:

    I get her anger but Harvey is milking this for Oscar nomination as well

    • Amy says:

      Yeah it feels like she went from being used by men to being used by men to…wait for it, being used by another man.

  14. OTHER RENEE says:

    Haven’t watched the Today Show in years. Cannot stand looking at Matt’s smug, ugly, cheating face. I remember when he started, he was so pleasant and humble. Now he’s such a douche. So sad really. His poor wife.

  15. Lucy says:

    They didn’t deserve to interview her anyways. Screw the Today Show.

  16. Santolina says:

    Yep, Today had the hissy fit, not Amy Adams.

    More on the Today Show decline and that sc*mbag, Lauer…
    http://nymag.com/news/features/today-show-hosts-2013-4/

  17. GFunk says:

    When do we get to interview Matt Lauer and ask anything we want? How about asking about all the people he’s had fired because they encroached on his ego, including Ann Curry who we all loved dearly, and how he’s had multiple affairs with people who work on the Today Show and jobs have had to be shuffled to accommodate them.

    Amy should not have discuss her salary with a reporter, period. It is absolutely none of our business. Forcing her into this conversation is completely unfair. She likely didn’t know she was paid less than the men were, and is handling her reaction to that in private. You don’t do future salary negotiations on live TV.

    • Enui says:

      Totally agree! This was going to put her in a difficult position no matter what. She didn’t write the emails– it would be like asking me why my crazy cousins post what they do on Facebook. I don’t know, ask them! As to salary: I know that less competent people where I work are paid more because of who they are related to, or sleeping with. Asking me in a public forum why I am paid less isn’t going to do me any good, and can actually harm me. What exactly was she supposed to say? Today just wanted something that would then be shown in short clips on gossip shows for a few days to give them a ratings bump. Low. Real low.

      • Ally8 says:

        Exactly. You know they were hoping to use her to get the Today show logo into 24 hours of gossip and news shows. Tacky, desperate move.

  18. Andrea says:

    Here’s the thing about Amy—and it’s one of the reasons why I really like her and always will-=–because she has this “sweet” image and she looks the way she does, people think they can bully her. When the reality is this woman is made of STEEL. She is soft on the outside but I would not f*** with her. She did not get to be where she is by being an idiot. She has great talent and she is no one’s fool. She was not going to be a pawn in some soundbite. She knows full well that having a serious discussion about gender wage disparity is not a convo for the freaking Today Show that you are going to bullied into. I’m sure she’s pissed she was paid less but there was NO WAY to have this convo on the Today show where she didn’t come out the loser in some way. She does not have to discuss private info about how much money she is paid on national TV when that info was obtained illegally. No one wins in that scenario. Team Amy all the way.

    • MarcelMarcel says:

      @Andrea Have you seen Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day? It’s probably my favorite Amy Adams film! I do agree that although one may think she is all sweetness because of her slender frame, doe like eyes and soft strawberry hair, Amy Adams possesses an inner core of reliance and strength. From what she’s said about her upbringing it sounds intense and her persona reminds me a little of Drew Barrymore- a rough childhood that makes one inclined to embrace the positive however there’s that inner steeliness.

  19. Melain says:

    The today show has a history of crapping on people, including their own employees. They are aggressive, hostile … And they try to spin the shit into gold after creating a non-existing drama. I left them a long time ago. This is business as usual for them. They usually get away with this shit. But Amy Adams is so well liked and known for kindness, their bs isn’t getting traction. I’m guessing they’re probably Surprised at any backlash. They’ve succeeded with this same play for years. A holes !

  20. Amelia says:

    Designer ID on those brown boots anyone?? They are gorgeous

  21. Amelia says:

    Designer ID on those brown boots anyone?? They are gorgeous

  22. Margo says:

    Yet she doesn’t mind being a pawn for Weinstein to get an Oscar.

  23. LaurieH says:

    What did the Today Show expect Amy Adams to say? I know what they wanted her to say; they wanted her to express outrage about being paid less than a man so that the show could use that as a springboard to make “news” out of income inequality (I mean, obviously they are hard-up for stories when they are doing segments on brushing a dog’s teeth). Amy knew it and she didn’t bite. What really could she say? Bitch about her male co-star? Bitch about the contract her manager negotiated for her? Bitch about the studios that hire her and sign her paycheck? Hollywood is one of those weird places where you can’t generalize about male and female salaries, because there are so many factors that go into determining their pay; i.e. screen time, marketability, past profitability, etc… Amy Adams may have been paid less than her male counterparts, but there are plenty of women who command higher salaries in films than Amy Adams and a laundry list of male actors. Meryl Streep doesn’t come cheap. Angelina Jolie doesn’t come cheap. Julia Roberts, in her heyday, brought in some serious cash. The Today Show was trying to make a story where there really wasn’t one and, in doing so, rudely and selfishly tried to put Amy Adams in a uncomfortable position for which no response – except a benign shoulder-shrugging one – was going to do her any good.

    • MarcelMarcel says:

      I think the fact that Jennifer Lawerence is an Oscar Winner and headlining THG-major franchise yet was paid less than the male stars suggests sexism did factor into the decisions about wage. However if the Today Show cared about gender inequality in wages why didn’t they get Bradley Coopers perspective on it when he was interviewed? (He was also in American Hustle so like his opinions as relevant as Amy Adams). I can understand why she doesn’t want to discuss wage inequality in the public perhaps because a) dissing Sony means they w

    • MarcelMarcel says:

      Sorry for the double comment but I accidentally pressed the send button before I I finished my thoughts and then I didn’t edit the comment in time. So let’s try again…
      I think the fact that Jennifer Lawerence is an Oscar Winner and headlining THG-major franchise yet was paid less than the male stars suggests sexism did factor into the decisions about wage. However if the Today Show cared about gender inequality in wages why didn’t they get Bradley Coopers perspective on it when he was interviewed? (He was also in American Hustle so like his opinions as relevant as Amy Adams). I can understand why she doesn’t want to discuss wage inequality in the public, perhaps because a) dissing Sony means they won’t hire her again. Also, another studios may see her as a liability because she publicly bad mouthed her employers. b) her wage is a private matter not a public one. c) she’s still processing the information and doesn’t want to release a public statement without giving the topic more thought. d) reasons unknown since I’ve never met her. All that said, if the Today Show actually cared about feminism, they would respect a woman enough to let her discuss her creative endeavours without pressing her on private information that was leaked without her consent. I have no time for Harvey after he disrespected Bong Joon-ho’s creative integrity. (Bong Joon-ho was the director of Snowpiercer). However, Harvey is a savvy business man and wins almost every film related disagreement so I suspect Matt Lauer will regret how he treated Amy Adams.

  24. Nikollet says:

    Can someone explain what ‘twihard-proofing’ means?

    • Argirl says:

      Second this.

    • NerdMomma says:

      I’m wondering the same!

    • Alexandra says:

      It’s related to the “Twilight” fandom, who always expects clear evidence when it comes to romance rumors involving Robert Pattinson or Kristen Stewart and sometimes, even if the evidence is pretty glaring (Like Kristen literally going down on her director), they will still not be satisfied with the proofs (Robsten Unbroken). So Twihard Proof-ing basically means getting obsessed over having proofs that back up the claims.

  25. qtip says:

    If only Keith Morrison would leave Dateline and go to ABC I’d be happy as hell.

  26. Missa says:

    If I were her, I’d go across town and have that serious gender pay gap conversation with Charlie Rose at CBS’s morning show, just to spite them.

  27. Lv says:

    She did not get “2 percent” less, she got 2 fewer percentage pts so maybe 25 percent less. I hope this “2 percent” doesnt gain traction or it will sound like the pay discrepancy was petty.

  28. Ravensdaughter says:

    Stupid, stupid people. You don’t toss Amy Adams off any show, little less fluffy “Today”.
    My older sister who went to RISD film school and never goes to theater movies anymore-she’s budgeting like the rest of us-said that “Big Eyes” is the only movie she plans to see in theaters.
    Take that!-Darth Vader….errr, Matt Lauer.

  29. phlyfiremama says:

    smoke and mirrors, smoke and mirrors, still no raise monetarily for women.

  30. crazydaisy says:

    i want that green shirt dress!!!