Maybe we should have seen the signs before now. I didn’t see them – I wanted to believe in Constance Wu, and I liked her a great deal. Even before her break out in Crazy Rich Asians, Constance was already a leading lady on television in Fresh Off the Boat, and she was already pissing people off because of her sometimes hot-takes on issues of race and feminism in the industry. I thought it was good that she was pissing people off for the right reasons and standing up for what she believed. But then everything took a turn on Friday, when Fresh Off the Boat was renewed for a sixth season. She reacted to the news by tweeting: “So upset right now that I’m literally crying. Ugh. F–k” and “f–king hell.” When someone congratulated her on the renewal by saying it was “great news,” she replied “no it’s not.” She also left this message on Instagram:
People were surprised, to say the least. Fresh Off the Boat is one of ABC’s most successful sitcoms, and it’s a groundbreaking show for Asian representation on network television. There’s been some criticism of the writing, and their long-time showrunner recently left, but there hasn’t been any gossip about “FOTB is a toxic environment for the actors/writers” or whatever. Basically, Constance looked like a giant brat who stomped her feet and threw a tantrum at the news that hundreds of her coworkers will still have a job in the coming year.
A few hours after the initial tweet-storm, it seemed like her publicist finally got through and Constance began slowly walking sh-t back. She tweeted “That was not a rampage, it was just how I normally talk. I say f–k a lot. I love the word. Y’all are making a lot of assumptions about what I was saying. And no, it’s not what it’s about. No it’s not..what this is all about. Stop assuming.” She followed it up with this: “Todays tweets were on the heels of rough day&were ill timed w/the news of the show. Plz know, Im so grateful for FOTB renewal. I love the cast&crew. Im proud to be a part of it. For all the fans support, thank u & for all who support my casual use of the word f-ck-thank u too.” And then finally, she released a longer statement:
These words are my truth. I hope you hear them pic.twitter.com/l6SvbFcUlj
— Constance Wu (@ConstanceWu) May 11, 2019
So… her tantrum really was what people assumed at first: she was mad that the show got renewed because she wants to move on and do other things and instead of dealing with all of this head-on and privately – with producers and the network – she instead used social media to have a hissy fit. I want to walk this fine line very carefully: if anyone is unhappy at their job, they should absolutely have the freedom to walk away. If Constance had given her notice or worked out some kind of contractual freedom, she still would have been criticized, but not like this. This is the kind of unprofessional and juvenile act of someone like Katherine Heigl. If Constance hadn’t thrown a tantrum so publicly, it’s more than possible that she and her agent could have worked out some deal with ABC where she could do both, this passion project AND the show. But now ABC and the producers are just going to keep her there out of spite, probably. And give her worse lines and dumb storylines.
Photos courtesy of WENN and Avalon Red.
Wow I never watched this show but I watched CRA and I loved her in it. I didn’t know there were rumors about her… that’s so disappointing
I also read that Gemma Chan liked a tweet basically saying that anyone that knew her wouldn’t be surprised by her actions?! Yikes!
I saw that like! And I’m not so sure I believe it was an accidental like either… not based on what others were saying about how this isn’t news to a lot of people who’ve had dealings with Constance before now. And even before all this erupted, I’ve noticed you almost never, ever see the two of them hanging out, or pictures of them together, at any events the two of them are at.
Really!? For me she was the glaring weak spot in CRA. I couldn’t stand the way she played Rachel like a spoiled brat. It was awful.
IMO, she’s not talented enough to throw a fit over her artistic integrity.
agree w you…
@onerous, I agree. She was always seeking pity and sympathy and throwing hissy fits. I love CRA but wouldn’t have a problem if they replaced her part with another actress.
I hated that movie and everyone in it except for Akwafina. That’s two hours of my life I’ll never get back.
I had problems with the movie overall. LOVE the books but I feel like so many of the characters were short-changed. Too much left off but then again, any book that goes from page to screen is bound to have issues.
Rachel was written differently for the movie than the book. I don’t know, Constance seems like many many many actors who’ve come before, who finally get a big break on a hit TV show, want to stretch their artistic wings, then get those wings clipped. Some get to fly, but few succeed. I’d be interested to see what she does next.
Onerous, I feel the exact same way. I feel like Constance was the weakest link in CRA. Gemma Chan, Michelle Yeoh and Awkwafina were soooo good in the film. Their acting was great and really natural, not forced. Constance, on the other hand, was really difficult for me to watch on screen. She’s very dull. You can just tell that she’s acting and practicing her angles and she managed to make her character super annoying (which wasn’t the case in the book).
I completely agree that Constance was the weakest link in CRA. Michelle acted circles around her and CW came off as so flat. If she was replaced I wouldn’t be disappointed at all.
I thought CRA was wildly overrated. Honestly, it felt like a mediocre episode of the OC with an Asian cast. Not great.
Gemma Chan has already claimed that she didn’t mean to like this tweet. I’d be surprised if she did – Chan seems like too classy a person to get involved in online spats. Wu, on the other side has a certain reputation – and not a good one: she seems like an entitled unthankful idiot with too little talent.
How can it be accidental? It’s not like you’re feeling up a wall and accidentally turned on the lights? Or butt dialed someone w/ your phone. Seriously disingenuous. Own it Gemma.
people really need to stay off social media. i also find it hard to believe that gemma chan “accidentally” liked the quote saying wu was a spoiled brat. i mean, how dumb do they think we are?
I like her character in FOTB. Didn’t realize the character was very much like her IRL.
FOTB can go on without her, she’s not that pivotal to the show, and watching Louis Huang figure out how to date again would be pretty funny.
Well, it IS based on a memoir, though I don’t know how true to the book it is since I haven’t read it.
It’s not true to the book. Eddie Huang quit because they were taking creative liberties with his work. He is producer in name only.
Ugh, I have been SO disappointed by all this. I’ve never watched FOTB, but I liked her so much in CRA, and have been really rooting for everyone from that movie to go on to giant success. But this? Throwing a rage fit that hundreds of people who put their hearts and souls into her show aren’t out of a job, on the SAME DAY that hundreds of people DID lose their jobs thanks to their shows being cancelled? Super, super obnoxious. And that ending in her full statement “believe women” is a GIANT no for me. No, no NO.
How stupid does she think people are? All that furious backpedaling. It’s pretty obvious she meant what she said the first time around.
The tantrum…then the lies that the tantrum wasn’t about the renewal…then the statement with “believe women” at the end. My God, what a disaster. She is CANCELLED in my book. And I thought she was the weakest link is CRA!
I now “assume” she is an “unpleasant” woman in it for only herself, not “all women.” It would be interesting if they cancelled her and the other gig cancelled her as well. Then she would have plenty of tantrum time to herself.
Nothing to add except I wish I could post that Tyra Banks meme: “I was rooting for you. We were all rooting for you. How dare you?!”
In all seriousness, I am really, really disappointed. Not only because what she did/said was truly horrifying and offensive to her colleagues and from a professionalism standpoint, but also because unfortunately she is seen as the face of the Asian-American acting community. She also represents the larger AsAm community, especially since she’s been so vocal about inclusivity, diversity, feminism, etc. The other ignorant executives/people in power in Hollywood are going to use this PR gaffe as an excuse to put AsAm actors and opportunities “back where they belong.” I sincerely hope that she hasn’t ruined it for other AsAm actors out there who are humble, hardworking, and leagues more talented because she now has established the reputation that AsAm actresses are “difficult” and arrogant.
I feel like at the end of the day, Gemma Chan is going to walk away with the better career.
If one outspoken Asian American puts her foot in the mouth and is an a-hole, it’s BS that Hollywood uses that excuse to not hire more. That’s called racism and means they weren’t planning on elevating others anyway. We as minorities are people too and super diverse, if you can hire white actresses after Katherine Higel, you can hire Asian American women after Wu.
If anything it means more AsAm should be heard from so the American media doesn’t decide that the voice of 1 person represents a group that is over one billion plus globally. And Hispanics and Blacks should not have the burden of putting out their necks to protest racism and stereotypes all alone.
That model minority crap is a way of keeping people in their place. Don’t speak out otherwise we won’t hire your kind. B.S.
That said, Constance is an ass for throwing her show and coworkers under the bus. Shitty behavior that I do not defend!
˄This.
I agree. I have been a fan of Constance Wu’s in the past, and I understand how she might have felt frustrated that she is contractual obligated to continue working on a show that she feels isn’t pushing her so she can’t move on to other things that she is more excited about. But what on earth was that ‘believe women’ thing at the end? Like, yeah, I believe you that these were your motivations. It was still such a jerk move to say all those things in public! Text your friends, call your mom, stay off twitter! I’m imagining some sitcom where an actress does something inarguably rude, but then tells everyone watching in shock that it’s okay because we all need to believe women #metoo. Like that makes it all fine now.
Exactly!
This was all incredibly foolish of her. I don’t blame her for being frustrated either, especially if she has to turn down something she’d rather do, but she should have vented privately, and then worked out a statement that said she was glad the show was coming back AND she hopes she can still do some other projects as well. And a statement that didn’t invoke #metoo for no reason!
Not good at all.
How can her PR people let her put that shit out? She should really stay off social media. A formal statement crafted by a PR person would have been better received.
Yeah… um I’m hoping we all can manage not to go co-opting the totally powerful, totally important #MeToo/ “Believe Women” thing. As I recall, it was about believing women WHEN THEY ARE SAYING THEY’VE BEEN RAPED, ASSAULTED, STALKED, HARASSED, etc. … It is about ABUSE. And here she’s gonna go and make it about her and people not believing what an artiste she is & that she didn’t really mean to bitch about her show’s renewal or that she’s realllllly sorry she showed her ass, or something.
Just no.
Also, talk about digging yourself a deeper hole… This thing seemed unclear at first, like I didn’t understand what the problem was, giving her the benefit of the doubt- and then that IG “statement” tho. Just… nahh-uh.
Wow, that “apology” really says it all. “Fun, easy and pleasant” might be fine for her co-workers but that’s beneath someone of her clearly misunderstood and unparalleled talent and drive. Please.
Yeah, she’s definitely at the stop digging when you hit diarrhea portion of this saga. On the one hand, I hate that women like Wu and Katherine Heigl are held to higher standards than entitled MALE celebs who are often equally, or more, ungrateful and demanding, but on the other…Geez, sis, know when to send an annoyed text to your agent or bestie and leave the Internet out of it.
Also, the last “believe woman” line of that longer statement? Shut. The. Hell. Up. Her initial “retraction” was pure gaslighting, intimating her tweets weren’t about Fresh off the Boat cancellation, when they very explicitly , and specifically, were, and then she closes with “believe women,” like it’s some get off jail free card for females? Hell to the N-O.
Serves her right if she loses a good bit of work over this one.
That’s it. I can completely understand her feelings if she had something else in the hopper, but geez Louise, don’t send those feelings out in to the wider world, tell your agent or mom or your therapist.
She’s not being held to a higher standard. When men are jerks they get the take down too. Ask David Caruso and Isaiah Washington or T.R. Knight how those careers are going. Lucky for David Caruso CSI came along, but otherwise he was ass out.
Never seen FOTB, but when Maclean Stevenson wanted to leave MASH they killed off his character. There’s a solution. And a reminder to CW-his career pretty much died then, too.
Don’t forget David Caruso.. He thought he was too big for “NYPD blue” When his film career did not take off, he ended up back on TV with CSI: Miami.
And Shelley Long among many other “too big for their pants” actors.
Suzanne Somers did the same with Three’s Company after the first year. Tanked her acting career.
Farrah Fawcett as well.
And Donald Glover from “Community.”
@Cay, maybe his acting career didn’t take off but his subsequent music career has been quite successful.
Is this a joke? Aside from CG there’s Atlanta.
Um, have you seen Atlanta? I’m going to take these comments as sarcasm. Donald Glover wrote the book on doing things his own way.
I was a little worried for him when he left Community (his character was my favorite), but his career has been on FIRE since then. It was clearly the right move for him.
With Chevy Chase being such an asshole Community was about to end anyway.
I mean, this time of thing has happened since the beginning of (television) time! People see themselves as outgrowing their shows and either step back in their roles or leave. If that’s what she wants to do, that’s what she should do. Maybe there’s something in her contract preventing her from doing so, but regardless, whining about it online is just not a good look.
“Believe women”???
GIRL NO. Do not connect your tantrum about having a steady paycheck (boohoo!) with the #MeToo Movement. DO NOT.
Multiple shows were cancelled on that same day, Multiple pilots were passed over. HUNDREDS if not thousands of people are now unemployed. You are a working actress on a hit tv show. JUST NO. STOP.
The only positive thing to come out of this is that now people are seeing her true colours. And they aren’t great.
Right! I can’t believe she ended her statement with that.
Well, Constance Wu, believe this woman when i tell you… GIRL, BYE.
Connecting her statement to the Me Too movement is indeed the worst part of this! Believing she said what she said because she was sad she didn’t get to do another job and believing women who are assaulted and harassed is not the same g*ddamn thing. And like what S said upthread , the gaslighting here is astounding. Girl, we know you’re pissed that you got another offer but are stuck on a network show. Don’t try to tell us we’re crazy for seeing through what you’re saying.
I can understand the humanness behind being upset that you can’t move on creatively. But maybe don’t put it on social media? And the repeated use of “pleasant” is so condescending.
I was ready to shrug this off with, yeah so she’s a bitch, so are a ton of male actors…but that last line? About making the choice to believe women? F**k you Constance. Everyone did believe you (you were angry your show got renewed) and that was the truth. Evoking the movement to believe sexual harassment and assault victims because you were mad that your humongous success was not quite humongous enough? That’s beyond disgusting.
Just one person who should practice restraint of pen and tongue. Why do people run straight to social media every time they have a thought or feeling?
The good news is: the past couple of days has been crazy fun on twitter. I got really in to this drama and the James Charles stuff. I think my brain really needed non-political drama.
@Melly
Ohh, that YouTube MUA kerfuffle was shocking. Especially with a guy so young being so allegedly predatory!😮
I used to watch some of his youtube videos. He’s talked for awhile about how he’s only attracted to straight men and I always thought that was really weird. I had no idea he was such a manipulative predator. Tati is an MUA who I actually like and she never seems to be involved with any dramas or scandals. I’m glad she’s getting more followers out of this whole mess.
Twitter has been giving good this weekend.
Add to the list the Janelle/Lupita drama as well that soon to be published writer who snitch tweeted about the WMATA worker eating on the train.
@Miagirl,
What Janelle/Lupita drama????!!!!!???? The metro transit worker *sshole writer/sh*t was poetic Justice. I hope that the metro worker is able to keep her job and faces no recriminations.
@Renee2
I wrote “soon to be published” but the justice was swift on her terrible tweet and so yes, she’s “soon to not be published”. She took her Twitter to private and I’m guessing she might even lose her day job as social media lead at the World Bank.
I tried to find follow up on that WMATA worker but not sure. Seems she may have been reprimanded and some saying she lost her job. I’m hoping not.
Twitter was all excited that supposedly Janelle and and Lupita are dating! Damn what a couple!
Tessa Thompson avoided them at the Met Gala…and maybe Tessa broke up with Janelle for Brie Larson?!??
There are strong rumors that Janelle and Lupita are officially an item. That writer was an absolute asshole. I live in DC and take the metro all the time. There is an understanding that it’s fine to eat on the metro as long as you don’t make a mess. How much of a Karen do you need to be to confront and rat on a metro employee for eating breakfast? Absolutely ridiculous.
@ Mia Girl,
Um, what????!!!! Lupita and Janelle dating!!!!????!!!!! It’s a good thing that I am lying down because I would have fainted dead away. I am so excited!!!! And even though I think that Brie Larson is boring I still like her?? and don’t care for Tessa Thompson but I think that I would like her with Brie. Both pairings make me super happy!!!!
Re the Transit worker, I really hope that she didn’t lose her job. I’ll be super pissed if she does and I hope that someone starts a petition to have her reinstated. I will gladly start it if needed, lol.
Yay to Janelle and luipta, if true. Love these two women. They’re so interesting and smart. I was quite preplexed when Lupita was linked to Michael B though it seems it had more with promotion for black panther. He’s not worthy of her.
I could never figure out if the WMATA worker was fired either. Unfortunately, they had cause to fire her, but hopefully it was just a reprimand, not a firing. I’m pretty sure that writer won’t be sticking her nose in anyone’s business again. LOL
Lupita is dating an African man. I don’t know why a rumor started because these women were hugging each other in a photocall.
The @unsuckDCMetro Twitter account is horrible and blocking black people speaking out. He is also promoting dog whistle language and misrepresenting black people and organizations speaking out against the author.
I’m not sure Lupita is into dating Americans but people try to match her with every American artist she has either worked with or is photographed with. She keeps her dating life very private and no one knew about her last boyfriend K’Naan from Somalia.
https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/lupita-nyongo-boyfriend-secretly-dating-rapper-knaan-since-september-2014123/
Tati is a trash person as well in my book. I’m team no one in this fight.
I’ve always liked her. She seems like a genuinely good person.
Gross of her to use “Believe women”, especially after wearing Marchesa to the MET Gala last week…
Here for this. Was not disappoint.
Way for her to support women!
Gemma said she accidentally liked that tweet but idk if she’s telling the truth. I think someone that worked on the show said that Costance isn’t fun to work with…I don’t know what to believe
This Constance woman reminds me of myself as in we make comments sometimes without thinking things through.
She made several mistakes in posting several comments and tweets about the show which she cant take back. No matter how well wrote.
Her explanations and excuses are literally exactly why we all thought she was upset. She’s acting like people were upset because she dropped the F bomb and that’s definitely not it. What a self centered, ungrateful brat.
Also, I hate it when celebrities say things like “you don’t know my truth” when the public/media are accurate in what they’re saying.
Yes!! It’s one thing to be disappointed but this was clearly a case when she should have stepped away from social media. She intentionally made her temper tantrum public (the “dislike” comment is especially petty) and people will base their interpretations on what she is putting out there. She comes off as completely selfish and spoiled.
As an actress I understand her disappointment in missing out on a part she is very interested in, and that careers live and die based on what’s offered to you. But this was a time to deal with that disappointment privately out of consideration for all those folks who depend on the show for their livelihood and don’t have other offers coming in.
Haha people on Twitter are already making this a meme and I love it: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/constance-wu-becomes-meme-new-returning-series-celebrations-1209935
Right?! She didn’t want Season 6 to happen because she got a better offer. Read it correctly the first time.
Then she added—1)The depth of her artistic soul requires challenge to reach fulfillment and 2) believe women. Stop digging!
I’m going to come to her in a semi defensive bit. Constance has been unhappy with fotb for years, and the show runner has recently exited the show. She has tried to get out of her contract for quite some time. This isn’t really “news”, and she’s genuinely tried all the nice ways out from what I’ve heard. I feel a but bad for her because she is getting offers for other, bigger projects, and being tied to fotb is essentially going kill her career more than that.
Bad way to go about it, but she’s tried the nice ways to leave, maybe this is her trying a different way.
Interesting … maybe this is her way of forcing their hand with her contract?
Suzanne Somers did that too and look at her career! It took her decades to recover before she got that Step by Step part. Business is business. She signed a contract. She should have honored it.
Oh great. I hope this ISH doesn’t effect the new Jlo movie she’s in. Geez.
I want an upvote button.
It’s going to be really awkward with her co-workers now, what with her rooting for their unemployment and all.
She only has one year left on her contract. Instead of throwing a tantrum on social media she should just suck it up and do it. Melissa McCarthy juggled her movie career with Mike and Molly for years so I don’t know why Constance can’t do it for one.
Thank you! Admittedly, I don’t know if Melissa has any kind of social media presence, My first thought was that she was nominated for an Academy Award yet stayed with the show.
I forgot Melissa had that show – she did a ton of movies during that time, AND was the producer and writer for several of them! And where is Spy 2? I loved that movie.
I feel so disappointed. But I agree, the signs were always there …
Marchesa at the MET really put me of her and just a couple of days later this – I was shocked!!
I was rooting for her hard, started watching Fresh of the Boat because of her (but I have to say – the kids and the hubby are killing it, they are amazing!), was excited about Crazy Rich and liked her in it, totally loved the film …. what a bummer.
But what really upsets me is the last sentence … believe women – what has that to do with Times Up?!?!
I enjoy messy, raw, emotive people like this. It’s…oddly refreshing? Tough to explain.
Interesting take. I need to think about it.
Or maybe she was just drunk.
It’s a lot more interesting than the annoyingly polished thoughts and prayers mob we never stop hearing from (aka most of Hollywood) but her weird apologies kind of ruin it
I saw the tweets and thought she was being sarcastic! This is all just so odd.
She should be grateful. She is cute but she’s not super young, beautiful or talented. How many roles does she think are out there for her? The reality is she hit the jackpot several times based on luck. She clearly doesn’t see it that way.
Anybody else see that tweet Gemma Chan liked, about this not being surprising, because anybody who’s worked with Constance has seen this behavior? THAT was telling to me. And just the fact that she could’ve said been “honest” the first time and said she was wanting to move on to other things. Made it waaaaaay worse for herself.
I totally get why she’d be devastated the show was renewed. The quality went way downhill after the first couple of seasons, her character in particular is written increasingly poorly, the actors only get a 4% raise each season so it’s not a Friends/Big Bang situation where she’s over it but at least raking in huge bundles of cash, and to top it off it’s not a popular show that’s still helping her career, it’s just one of those middle of the road sitcoms most people forget wasn’t cancelled years ago.
Going public with her devastation was really dumb, but I am getting pretty frustrated with people pretending they can’t comprehend why she wouldn’t be happy. She was lining up some great movie roles and having a ‘moment’, and now she can’t even try to make the most of it. Any actor with even a hint of ambition in them would be upset.
Yes! Sure, it was dumb by today’s hypocritical standards, but it was real! I’m fine with it. Nobody puts, much less thinks of, other people first all the time…we just like to pretend we do. She got pissed about being stuck in a job she doesn’t enjoy for another year, so she vented a bit. I get that. It’s human!
True. I’m torn about rich people complaining publicly about work. On the one hand, everybody should be able to be publicly critical of or even a little whiny about their jobs, or vent about their schedules. But on the other hand, this isn’t the average job where she’s making average amounts of money.
@ Julieta–I agree with every one of your takes. I watched the show the first few seasons and it was really cute and funny, although I enjoyed the kids and grandma more than the parents. But it did stop being funny around S3, and it is rather mediocre. Didn’t the guy who it was based on express some disappointment in it when it first came out?
@ Ader–I can understand not wanting to stick with the show too because it is sort of blah, but she really should’ve just vented that to some friends. What could she possibly hope to accomplish by tweeting that? Maybe she wants to get fired!
@manda — like I said, it was human. Sometimes we don’t think before acting, and she didn’t.
The way people are pillorying her for this pretty benign tantrum, to me, is a bit eye-roll-worthy, in that we get rapaciously aggrieved about other people’s smallest violations of propriety, but can’t seem to wrap our collective head around the broad-stroke stuff that actually matters.
It’s all smugly amusing to me.
@ Ader, yes, people do make mistakes, but this is something that someone who is really naive about social media (and the world) would do. IMO, there is no way that she didn’t know this would piss people off. She’s not stupid. Perhaps she didn’t think it would be that bad.
Yeah. The show is based on Eddie Huang’s memoir, and he has been a vocal critic of the show since just after it started. His memoir tackles racism, classism, masculinity, and abuse in really thoughtful ways, and very little of that translates into the show. Beyond that, I know he’s raised questions about the composition of the writer’s room, and the absence of Taiwanese/Chinese writers.
Manda,
Ugh. YES! It is. Because sometimes people do dumb things that aren’t in their best interest. That is my point! Sometimes people let emotions get in the way of “should.”
I absolutely agree w/everything you wrote. But she needed to tell that to her friends, manager, or diary. Ranting on multiple social media platforms about hating that your show was renewed was a big FU to cast and crew of her show. I thought she was smarter than that optics wise. I was so shocked I thought her parents came from money because WPOC have so few chances in HW so for her to go out of her way to mess up her bag has me floored. I honestly can’t believe she did that.
I agree. However she is an adult and she knows how social media works and she knows how people are going to read her Tweets. She could have taken a breath, expressed her frustration to the air. Instead, she decided to pick up her phone and type it out. That’s what kids do. She wouldn’t have been in CRA if it wasn’t for the show. And she wouldn’t have the opportunity for that passion project if it were for the show. As others have pointed out, it was unprofessional.
I can understand where she’s coming from because there has been some criticism of both the show and how the writing for her character. The show has turned Jessica Huang into a nagging shrew, similar to the direction that Everybody Loves Raymond took Debra Barone in the last third of that’s show run. The writers seem intent on making her character apologize for her perceived selfishness.
Wu probably has been frustrated with FOTB and the writers for a couple years now. She likely has expressed her disappointment privately behind the scenes and been professional, only to see not much change for her.
Of course she could be happier but the show being renewed doesn’t mean she could not be written out out of or having her schedule modified she can do both shows. Or maybe given a raise in exchange for more promotion since she is bigger star now. And her annoyance is disproportionate to what happened.
” so it’s not a Friends/Big Bang situation where she’s over it but at least raking in huge bundles of cash”
It has been put into syndication, so she is going to make TONS of cash for years off of this show. TONS.
Additionally, FOTB was what put her in contention to get the lead role in CRA. This show has helped her career very much.
A contract is a contract and she has to honor it. Sorry. Her outburst was unprofessional. How many of us would send an office wide email saying their workplace sucks and their bosses suck? Yep don’t see many hands out there.
Totally unprofessional and ungrateful. Sorry.
How incredibly unprofessional and utterly stupid. They should fire her.
My cousin works for a catering company in LA. They do a lot of small to mid size events that often are Hollywood events, Real Housewives level, etc.
Awhile back she told me that she met Constance at an event & she was a total bitch & treated one of the catering staff like dirt because she didn’t like the coffee.
Not surprising at this point! What is wrong with people? Why anyone would want to be famous in Hollywood unless they are a total Narcissist is beyond me
It’s crazy and sad she acts like this, especially considering she was a waitress for 10 years before she broke into acting.
I worked it retail in my early years during and a little after college and I always go out of my way to be nice to retail staff.
I’ve heard similar.
Yashar spilled the tea about her reputation, so the genie is out of the bottle.
Stunning that someone so smart would have such a public meltdown and insult her coworkers and crew. That will be an awkward first day back!
Someone needs to give her a newsflash that Alison Janney went back to TV after winning an oscar and Melissa McCarthy did the same after her nomination.
IMO she does not appear smart at all. Her written statements are written poorly and appear quite juvenile.
I forgot about Alison Janney! Now I need to watch “I, Tonya” again. In honor of Mother’s Day, obviously.
Allison Janney is another good example!
There’s a lot of good TV out there right now, and more and more actors are going back and forth between the two. I’ve heard other actors talk about filming their show during the day and then a movie role at night. You have to figure out how to make it work and do what you can – but this publicly complaining is never a good idea.
Wasn’t she also the one who said she didn’t want to be stuck playing a superhero in a franchise, when most actors, specially ones of less represented ethnicities, would give anything to have that sort of opportunity. She sounded like such a snob about it, it really turned me off from her. Also, the whole supporting Marchesa thing at the Met Ball was really tone deaf. She also was such a bad actor in CRA, i felt bad for those that had scenes with her.
have never seen the show; and not a clue who she is. but abc needs to write her out of the script or replace her altogether. there are plenty of actresses who could step in. and this kind of public bitching doesn’t bode well for future shows and actor/crew karma.
she should quite if she’s that bummed about having a friggin job in one of the most disposable professions out there where anyone can be replaced.
and that ‘pleasant’ description is a bit of a backhand..
what a nasty broad.
Describing her job as “easy” is also a backhanded compliment, implying ether that she is so exceptionally talented she could do the role in her sleep, or that the writing is so bland and innocuous that playing the role takes very little effort.
How unprofessional. There have been plenty of actresses who were on TV shows and would be getting movie offers that they’d have to turn down but handled their role on their TV show with class. No one is saying she shouldn’t be upset but to be a brat about it and go to social media: how incredibly rude of her.
Also her “believing women,” line. Yea no. To equate her being a brat on social media to women who are abused. Unbelievable.
Did she believe the women who told her that wearing Marchesa would benefit Harvey since that company was built on the backs of the women he abused? No she didn’t.
EXCELLENT point that I missed, thanks!
ETA: Machesa dress, supporting Weinstein. Ugh.
I think this is great in the sense everyone now knows what a ungrateful brat she is and this will no doubt come back to bite her one day. Girl is lucky she has this show and although CRA was fun, she isn’t Oscar worthy talent…she’ll find out real soon Never bite the hand that feeds in Hollywood.
I watch one episode of fresh off the boat it wasn’t as funny as I thought she doesn’t know how lucky she has it . You know what show was hilarious funny and abc cancelled the real O’Neal that show I would have love to have more than two seasons of that show I watch crazy Asian her character was to me the weakest I want to see more of her best friend character. Maybe venting on social media wasn’t the best because she came off as ungrateful for her show being renewed and her believe all woman was inappropriate this not a me too moment. This is grown woman throwing a tantrum because her show got renewed.
So, playing screaming, scheming, manipulative Jessica isn’t a stretch.
Ehhhhh…. I understand the whole being upset about not getting your way, but kid you signed a contract that means you have to do the damn show… too bad so sad you can’t go do your passion project now, but why oh why does everyone have to throw a damn social media tantrum then try and go fix it with a lame statement? Come on… PR 101… you will never look good doing this crap… no need to spew your anger all over the world, especially when you have an acting JOB and there are countless others who just lost theirs on the same day… she just did some irreparable damage to her “image”
I always stop to think, what if this was a white guy saying/doing this? The guy honestly would probably get the network & production company to come to an agreement so he could do both. I mean, Gunn made pedo jokes and is now directing for DC and marvel. I feel that perhaps because Wu is an Asian woman maybe we are being to hard on her. Think about it, we all have freakouts. Hell, I’ve had them myself at work when everything is just too much. Sometimes we CANT be professional when our personal lives are full of stress and drama.
But you CAN stay off social media ! Vent in private.
This is like apples to oranges to the Janes Gunn situation. His tweets were years old and he’d already addresses it with Disney prior to be hired in the first place. Also, once he was fired he was nothing but gracious to Disney and reiterated that he was sorry about the tweets etc, people who worked with him also came to his defense.
Regardless of how one feels about Gunn; how he handled getting fired was actually a master class in what to do and what not to do. That’s why DC snapped him up and Disney quietly rehired him once the blowback died down. Probably wouldn’t have happened if he had disparaged Disney all over social media.
And as others have noticed CW already has a certain reputation and many people (myself included) believe she was the weak link in CSA.
I would be hard on ANYONE in Hollywood acting with such unprofessionalism. She didn’t just make one statement on Twitter – she made multiple tweets about it and then made a bratty comment on Instagram, too! It wasn’t a momentary lapse in judgement.
Pierce Brosnan and Tom Selleck tried to get out of their contracts to do movies and weren’t allowed. I don’t remember them complaining to the public.
Yep Bond and Indiana Jones. They honored the contracts they signed even though those were signature roles!
This reminds me of when Jessica Biel wanted out of her contract from Seventh Heaven so she did a racy photoshoot thinking the producers would fire her ! FOTB is a great show. I’m glad it got renewed…maybe they should just kill off the mother’s character if she’s so upset about another season !
I don’t think that vocalizing this set of feelings was especially smart or strategic of Constance Wu; however, I’m also skeptical of all of the people emphasizing how grateful she should be for her job and how she should be “punished” by losing her job. This kind of reaction feels gendered to me. Think of what it takes for a male celebrity to get “cancelled” in comparison to a female celebrity.
Right! I’m glad somebody said this. Yes, this was a moment of insensitive, privileged, unprofessional whining from Constance Wu. But I’m not going to cancel her over it either; it’s just another reminder that being progressive and from one, two, or more marginalized groups doesn’t mean you don’t have flaws in your personality or that you’re never going to eff up. Men are absolutely shown more patience and more chances to be flawed/ evolve later in life than both woc and white women, it seems. They have to fuck up more to be hated too.
It was tone deaf of her to put this all out on social media though, and foolish too because of the fact that women’s reputations are more easily and permanently damaged by their flaws than men’s are. ‘Believe Women’ shouldn’t be used outside of issues that have to deal with abuse and sexuality. That just waters down the conversation about rape culture and all the ways women and girls are abused over sexuality. So that part is problematic, and I side-eye this whole thing from her, but she’s not cancelled yet.
I loved CRA and saw it twice. But honestly I thought her acting was mediocre at best. She was by far the weakest actor in the film. It’s a shame that her inflated ego got the better of her and she is now being revealed for the spoiled brat she is. Now everyone with a personal story about her apparently rude behavior is coming forward. Previously they may not have been believed but now they will be.
It’s like she was drunk, took her phone, went on a rant, then when she sobered up, she realized she made a mess, then she started with the damage control and made things even worse.
Also, she is filming that new JLo movie now, maybe there are some conflicts with the schedule. But, either way, this was SO bad.
Or ABC sent her publicist to find her and make her apologize.
she’s just another self important ego driven punk in hollywood. there are classy ways to handle this and i can respect that creatively she was feeling trapped. THIS IS NOT HOW YOU HANDLE THAT. zero grace or humility. she is immature and trashy for this. spitting in the faces of all the cast and crew of that show and the ones that were not fortunate enough to get renewed. and to make it worse, she hijacks the “believe women” slogan that does not apply to her situation whatsoever? she is gross. no thank you
If ever there was a time to lock your phone in a drawer this was it. Wow. Tacky and unprofessional sum it up nicely.
That said, I’m going to draw the line at calling her ungrateful. Wu might be all kinds of messy, and she most definitely should not have thrown a tantrum on social media, but calling her ungrateful has a few implications that make me very uncomfortable. Last I checked, we are all allowed to hate our jobs and wish we had another one, even if that job pays really well and there is a long line of other people willing to take your place.
I had one of those jobs not so long ago – money, prestige, etc. But after the first year or so, I was absolutely miserable – as in ugly-crying in the shower every morning kind of miserable. So I quit. Best decision I ever made. I truly believe I saved my mental and physical health from permanent damage by walking away when I did. Now I’m imagining if I had been contractually obligated to stay at that job, whatever the circumstances, for another full year. I’m having a minor panic attack just thinking about it.
no, not like this though. I’ve worked on several sets and “pleasant” cast and crews are a godsend. can’t believe she went all hissy just because of the exposure she received from CRA. there are so many talented Asian and Asian-American actresses praying for the very opportunities Constance is now sh**ting on. if she was able to be part of FOTB and CRA at the same time, she could have worked something out so she could do that passion project she was so excited about. the lady is very short-sighted apparently.
@Dara I understand what you mean about “ungrateful” taking on bad connotations. And you’re right…everyone is allowed to hate their job, even if it pays well and other people would love to take their place. Where I disagree though – and where I feel “ungrateful” actually IS the appropriate term – is that she loudly, over multiple social media platforms, complained about her show (which includes many other actors, writers, crew members, etc) being renewed on the same day other people’s shows were cancelled. She can hate her job, but to act so childishly about it and say “believe women” in her clarification is just shockingly in poor taste to me. I can hate my job too, but I WOULD earn the title of ungrateful brat if I whined about it on social media where my colleagues could see.
And this isn’t about sexism or anything else for me – being kind and respectful is just of the utmost importance to me and I can’t stand when ANY celebrity behaves this way.
What a brat. I understand why she’d want to move on, but it is so tone deaf to throw a fit because your show got renewed for another season, thus employing many other actors, writers, and crew members. It’s fine to be disappointed, but to do so publicly is beyond ungrateful, unprofessional, and should hurt her career. There are so many unemployed actors who would love to be in her position.
Her final line about “believing women” sent me over the edge. It made me livid, actually. I knew very little about her before but I’m still astonished she could show so much ignorance in that statement.
Someone took a calculated gamble on the internet being on their side and they lost, as they should. She should have looked at the history of actors deciding they were too big for their own shows and what happened to their careers and then she should gave looked at actors who manged to work on their shows and still juggle other projects (cough Allison Janney cough) AND win major awards AND somehow not blab all over the internet about not getting their own way and making false connections between riding out the remainder of your contract and being sexually harassed and made a better choice. Bad form all the way around.
If she’s as strong an actress as she seems to think she is, the projects are going to be there when the show is done.
Ouch. I have a big crush on her, but I don’t like what I’m reading. That sitcom was a big break for her, especially as a Canadian actress.
She’s not Canadian. She was born in Virginia.
Oops. You’re right.
Call me crazy but for the benefit of her coworkers etc. I’m happy she had a public “tantrum”. It’s good to know where you stand. I’d take ungrateful brat over disingenuous and two-faced.
She’ll hopefully go the way of Katherine Heigle…remember her?? There you go.
Constance will be schilling cat food soon enough.
Huh. Weird how Robert Pattison gets gushed over for choosing projects with women directors but not a word is said about the time he made rude, personal insults about Stephenie Meyer and dumped on Twilight while PROMOTING the films.
But Wu is an asshole for a few hours, walks it back, explains and apologizes and there’s this air of “how DARE she” outrage, coupled with how ungrateful she is/should be fired. Nevermind that this is the same woman who spoke out bluntly and publicly about the Casey Affleck debacle when almost NO white actor, male or female, would. Despite the fact that FOTB was her first big job at the time, or that she was a minority woman in an industry that is very tough to make a living in. People who were way more financially secure, well known and more in demand than she was said NOTHING. But she spoke up. That was so brave, such a huge personal and professional risk and she doesn’t nearly get the kind of credit that she deserves for that.
So maybe when we talk about Wu being an asshole about her job, we also point out how awesome she can be and how THAT should mean more than say, Chris Evans walking a woman up steps at awards shows.
Yeah, you know what? I take what I said above how she should have vented in private back. Why is a woman not allowed to be open & honest & heck, rude? We’re all human & I think her being vilified for her self-interest is sexist.
Why can’t both be issues? I disliked Pattinson for what he did (and he has many times since, including this year said nice things about Twilight) as did many. Anyway that was a decade ago now and he talked more about the quality which endeared him to many people who hated a Twilight so that wasn’t the same thing really.
I get what you’re saying. Women should take up space and be bold, etc. But I don’t think anyone is “allowed” to be rude. It’s not a good look on anyone.
I agree with what you are saying. I also have in the back of my mind, how so many actresses were vilified as difficult, hard-to-work with, etc …and then to find out that so much of it was insider smear campaigns by the likes of Weinstein etal. I don’t know. I’m not in the industry but I’m wary about how much criticism is being heaped upon her, despite how tacky and rude her comment was. Seems disproportionate.
Separately, I feel bad for Jon Chu and the whole CRA group and hope that this is all tamped down by the time they release the Crazy Rich Asians sequels.
There’s plenty of stuff out there regarding RP criticizing Twilight. Probably on this very site. It just seems like less because it was a while ago. Eventually this won’t seem like a big deal either, because some other celebrity will stick their foot in their mouth about something else, and time passes.
I give her a lot of credit for speaking out about Casey Affleck, AND I think she was wrong to publicly react the way she did here. It doesn’t have to be an all or nothing feeling towards her.
Ok how many of you would send an office wide email dissing your boss, the company, your co-workers etc? This is the same thing. Actions has repercussions. I’m not talking about privately venting to your coworkers either. What she did was throw a torch into the office. Sorry I don’t believe her. This also isn’t a male/female, race thing. Stop making it so. It is tacky and unprofessional and someone would only do this if they have no plans to come back to the company and torched that bridge. Not many of us would do that now, would we?
First time commenter but had to chime in — Constance was my roommate in NYC a while back. She presented as a pretty self-centered a-hole then, so the love for her always surprised me. *This* sounds about right.
Wow. Thanks for chiming in. I’ve loved her work, but not so much anymore after seeing her tweets and hearing about what she’s like.
Thanks for the insider goss!
interesting! some people can’t hide the a-holeness.
whoaaaaaa ouch !
how long were you roommates??
I think this is far worse than Katherine Heigl. Katherine wanted off Grey’s and was understandably upset with the terrible writing for her character. She never wished the show to be cancelled, resulting in unemployment for hundreds.
I said upthread I’ve been a fan of hers in the past, and honestly I still am. I’m not “cancelling” her or anything – honestly, I’m pretty down on cancel culture anyway. I don’t think it’s wrong for her to feel upset about being stuck doing a job she’s not as excited about at the expense of doing one she is really excited about. I think it’s pretty common for break-out stars of a show to feel like their show is holding them back from going on to bigger and better things, and I don’t resent her for the sentiment. But the social media tantrum was just a bad move on so many levels, just like dragging ‘believe women’ into her apology was, and I am surprised and disappointed that she messed up so badly. I don’t want her to be fired from FOTB or from the Crazy Rich Asians movies. I’m not eagerly anticipating her downfall. But I do hope that she will learn something from this whole mess, and that she’ll figure out how to be gracious in her success (and, you know, vent to your friends and family, not all of twitter, WTF). I think I would feel the same way if she were a white actor I liked. A jerk move is just a jerk move, and she compounded it with the dumb last line of her apology. I hope she lays low for awhile and figures her stuff out so she can have continued success and this time not be a jerk about it.
This. Having a tantrum on social media was an incredibly dumb move, but I also can’t stand cancel culture and the twitter obsession with shaming.
Me neither.
Yes, agree!! People are human and make mistakes.
There is a saying that you never leave a hit show. The number of people who have made that leap is very small. What you do is squeeze movie roles into your off season until you get a part that makes you an actual movie star. Also never burn bridges. Has nobody learned from Heigel?
she really threw her FOTB cast and crew under the bus basically saying that it’s a lame, unchallenging, easy, “pleasant” show. wow talk about biting the hand that feeds you. I am an actress myself and it’s so hard to get in. I can’t fathom behaving like this knowing the industry :S yikes.
She should be replaced. Someone else would be so happy to get her sitcom role. Totally unprofessional and immature behavior.
This is stupid, but I don’t hate her for it.
I hate her for slapping “believe women” on the end of it.
Exactly like Katherine Heigel who thought she was ready to launch a movie career but most if not all her films bombed like crazy. Constance needs a reality check; even those A-listers with long track records are always mentally prepared to never get another job again. She will live to regret this outburst. And I don’t believe Gemma accidentally liked anything on Twitter either but kudos to her for indirectly telling the world what she thinks about all this.
I understand her frustration. She’s almost 40 and she feels she must take all the grander opportunities that are being offered or the younger ones will replace her. There are few English speaking Asian actors working in Hollywood right now so it’s best for her to grab all the movie offers before they land on younger, prettier English speaking Asians like Gemma Chan or Sonoya Mizuno.
Jesus Christ, I can only name 3 Asian women that is not Michelle Yeoh, Sandra Oh and Scarlet Johanssen. Hollywood, hire more people of color.
Both Constance Wu and Gemma Chan were born in 1982. Lol at Scarlett Johansson
hahahahahahahah. Scarlet Johanssen. Thanks for the laugh.
‘…Michelle Yeoh, Sandra Oh and Scarlet Johanssen.’
I see what you did there!!! Very funny!
Ming Na Wen, the girl from Hawaii Five-O (sorry I forgot her name), Kelly Hu. Those are the ones I can name off the top of my head.
She often sounds bratty to me. Many people (including myself) are eager to see more programming overall featuring Asian actors and I get it if she feels tempted by other opportunities. It’s fair if she has some frustrations about her career trajectory or job obligations (don’t we all sometimes?) but would be better off filtering social media responses through a couple friends before impulsively tossing out public complaints. This is like when I was a young, ambitious designer, swamped at an agency and found myself complaining to my manager, “Ugh, I’m so busy, I have to do _______” and he interrupted me with, “Don’t you mean you GET to do _______?” He was right to correct my attitude and phrasing because there’s always someone else out there eager to take your job who can at least pretend to be grateful. You’d think an actress could ACT more grateful to have a steady gig.
It seems pretty clueless to make a tweet like this. If she were venting privately to her friends? No worries, understandable. But to publicly start whining about how awful it is that your show was renewed? It just makes you seem like a shi**y person.
Ugh. I look forward to never again watching her onscreen in anything for any reason ever.
If she’s not careful she’ll end up like Katherine Heigl.
I live in LA and have heard from multiple people associated with FOTB and CRA that Constance is a total diva and nightmare to work with. Seems like her Twitter tantrum has finally publicized it. Check out comments on other pages with people she’s worked with on set coming out of the woodwork.
As an Asian American woman I was rooting for her, even though I don’t think she’s that talented. We need more diversity so we can have more people to root for.
The David Caruso approach.
Lol at her repeating that the FOTB cast and crew are “kind and pleasant.” That is such a weak compliment! She doesn’t have to be best friends with the people she works with, but it definitely shows that she is not interested in the show any longer – which is fine! But her unprofessional tweet is so off-putting and a slap in the face to the other cast and crew who ARE excited at the renewal. Someone else said it best, she’s behaving like Katherine Heigl! Acting like a diva but no talent to back it up.
Seriously this was rude! If she had a beef about this, she should get her agent and let them hash it out with ABC. I’m sure they could have carved some time out for whatever she wanted to do. They did that for Katherine Heigel. To publicly act like that and then say oh that’s not what I meant is so disingenuous. Her words were pretty much black and white – not a speck of grey anywhere. Yes she’s pissed as hell that the show was renewed.
She only had one hit movie – and I didn’t think she was all that good (I’m asian I can say this). She should take a page from Sandra Oh to see how a long career looks.
She’s pretty much cooked at this point.