Everyone had strong opinions about Hugh Grant’s moment on the Oscar red carpet with Ashley Graham, one of ABC’s red carpet hosts. Ashley, a model/personality, was one of like five people representing ABC on various points of the red carpet. Clearly, Oscar producers/ABC producers were shuttling celebrities to various interview points, especially as ABC has the rights to sole live-carpet coverage for the hour before the Oscars (E! can’t do interviews live in that hour). As I watched Ashley try to interview a clearly peeved Hugh Grant, I admired her breeziness at simply getting him off her podium in a hurry. Here’s the clip again:
On Twitter, this was trending for hours into the Oscars telecast. People were still obsessed with this interaction. Now that we’re more than 24 hours removed from it, I’m more willing to give them both some grace – yes, Grant should have just said no to red carpet interviews, but his dry English wit simply didn’t translate in this forum. For her part, Ashley did her job and she has nothing to be ashamed of – she was gracious in the way she handled a curmudgeon, the end. Anyway, TMZ caught up with Ashley after the Oscars:
Ashley Graham rolled with the punches during her awkward Oscars exchange with Hugh Grant, and she’s carrying on with just as much grace afterward … take a look for yourself.
We got the model-turned-interviewer at LAX Monday morning, a day after her cringeworthy moment with the famed British actor … who did not provide any easy answers on the red carpet for the relatively standard softball questions AG was lobbing his way.
Upon reflection, Ashley doesn’t seem too bent out of shape … telling our photog she simply followed some advice that had been passed down to her — namely, kindness always wins. In other words, she took the high road … and you could argue Hugh didn’t. Either way, Ashley’s fine with how things played out — she made her decisions, and he made his.
As our cameraman pointed out — and Ashley agreed — you can’t control how someone else is going to react. All you can do is your job and try to get some engagement — and she certainly attempted … on that, everyone seems to agree.
It’s so funny that people are trying to make this into some kind of beef? I feel sorry for a lot of these red carpet interviewers – it’s such a hectic environment and I feel like producers are always screaming into their earwigs. Anyway, I’m still on Team Ashley. It was just a funny thing, realizing in real time that Ashley Graham and Hugh Grant have zero chemistry together and they hate each other.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Ashley Graham arrives on the red carpet of the 95th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 12, 2023.,Image: 762304395, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: sb / Avalon
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- Ashley Graham arrives on the red carpet of The 95th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 12, 2023.,Image: 762304491, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: TE / Avalon
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- Andie MacDowell and Hugh Grant backstage during the live ABC telecast of the 95th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 12, 2023.,Image: 762336609, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: ST / Avalon
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- Andie MacDowell and Hugh Grant present the Oscar® for Production Design during the live ABC telecast of the 95th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 12, 2023.,Image: 762339919, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: ST / Avalon
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- Hugh Grant (R) and guest arrive on the red carpet of the 95th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 12, 2023.,Image: 762342141, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: sb / Avalon
Ashley did her job and was professional. Hugh forgot he was at his job and was not.
No, it was not charming and Hugh wasn’t as smart as he thought he was.
I cringed so hard watching that video. He was so rude and obnoxious. He acted surprised at the fluffy questions (at a gorram awards show!) and when she tossed him one about his experience in a movie he whiffed that, too.
Ashley, on the other hand, was a professional through the whole interview. This is yet another example of women having to stay professional and gracious, while a man is rude to them, in order to not be slammed for being a bitch.
Hugh owes her an apology. Also, if he can’t be bothered to pretend he is a professional at a work event then maybe he should retire.
What a douche. Not having kindness at his age, with his life experiences, to me is unforgivable. He must have so much anger trapped inside to be like this. He was not witty at all, he was trash on purpose to her and thought people would say she did a bad job, and winds up they’re saying he’s the a$$hole. The red carpet is not where you have deep convos about your literary knowledge. It’s meant to be light, fun and welcoming. Im going to forgive him only if she confirms getting flowers and a personal written apology.
She was great for repeatedly trying to find a question he *would* answer, because I would have said “Well, what did you think they were handing you the mic for, Hugh? What would YOU like to talk about for 45 seconds?”
Exactly this. He seems to be totally unaware of how he comes across, and convinced that people will find him clever and endearing…
All of this.
It’s not cute to behave this way at work. He didn’t have to come, present, or walk the carpet. And yet he did then acted like a prick.
I saw a few folks on here yesterday talking about how Ashley is not a good interviewer and out of her depth. Blah, blah, blah. It’s an awards show people. They talk about what one is wearing, maybe a future project and so on and so forth. This is not the United Nations. Calm down. Fine if you don’t like Ashley but to act as though she’s a moron because she didn’t get his reference. Hugh is an assh*le and he should try harder to be kind or not speak to anyone at these red carpet events.
Uhhh – this is the same woman who asked Jason Mamoa to do the HAKA on the red carpet. She IS a terrible interviewer. That doesn’t excuse Hugh’s rudeness. Both things can be true at the same time.
Okay. So she f*cked up. And I’m not a fan of Ashley by any means. I’m saying she’s not Barbara Walters, but she doesn’t have to be. This is all fluffy material shit and you should consider that when you excuse rude white men. Cause you did that in your comment.
@girl_ninja. I literally said he was rude. Because he was. And like I said – BOTH things can be true.
That part. I found that to be distasteful.
I didn’t find Hugh Grant rude. I found him real. Ashley handled the situation with grace.
I never understand why people seem to think that’s two different things. “He’s not a d*ck, he was just being himself.” Yeah. It’s probably both.
Yup, he’s really a dick. Haha
I think it was neo-colonialist of him to expect an American young person (a model and red carpet tv host, not a scholar or academic) to have read and recalled a four hundred year old British tome. Fu@k that. I used to love him. This was ungracious and mean. Mirroring is polite — she was enthusiastic and silly at a big silly party; he could have given more. Plus, isn’t he the one who lost his wife because he was Johning with a streetside sex worker? Maybe he could lay off the “posh”.
Team Hugh. Know your interviewee and go with HIS/HER flow, not your agenda. Be flexible and knowledgable. Interviewing is not easy–that’s why for some it’s an actual profession.
O please this is the red carpet were the interviews are 1 min or fewer fluff questions, that way they hire anyone to do them. This is not a sit-down interview. They have actual journalists asking question in-depth questions.
It’s not 60 Minutes. Hugh was an arrogant dick, period.
I think a lot of guys like Hugh Grant get away with it being called “dry British wit” when really they’re just jerks. Convenient they have an accent so they can pass it off that way.
Vanity fair is an incredibly common term, and the book is a classic. I would hope most people would recognize it. However, CONTEXT is key. It makes total sense that her mind would go to the party.
But maybe even otherwise she wouldn’t have recognized it, and that’s fine. She, like many celebrities, is not formally educated in the sense that she didn’t attend college, and some don’t graduate from high school. That’s okay. Hugh Grant went to Oxford. I would hope he’s aware that not all actors attended one of the top universities in the world.
Are you really calling her stupid because she didn’t get his joke or was nervous so it went over her head?
What dose any of it has to do with ether of their education level ?
I never called her stupid. I don’t think that people who don’t have college degrees are stupid. That’s why I talked about her education and not her intelligence.
I’m acknowledging that she might not get all literary references that people might get exposed to in higher education.
What I’m saying is based on my viewing, Hugh Grant assumed she’s dumb. I’m just saying maybe she wasn’t exposed to Thackeray. That doesn’t make her dumb.
Again, you’re making her not getting his joke about her education level, which has nothing to do with that.
There are a lot of highly educated people that jokes just go right over their heads because they’re too busy trying to analyze the comment instead of just taking it for what it is.
@Coco it was a joke about a piece of literature that she may not have read. That has to do with her education level. I’m an English major with a graduate degree and I haven’t read it either, it’s okay. We don’t all have the same education.
@ tealily
Yes, I am very aware that the “joke” was a reference to William Thackeray novel. Again what does her education level have to do with whether or not she read William Thackeray’s book? You are aware that people want all educational levels read all types of books for fun, right?
@Coco I’m not sure what you’re arguing here. That she could have read Vanity Fair? Sure. It doesn’t seem like she did though.
It’s not originally from Thackeray, it’s from Bunyan (two hundred years earlier). AND I’ve read them both. AND I thought he was referring to the stupid after-party, too!!! Context is everything, and old boring British sayings are no longer the bloody cannon for all knowledge and wisdom. Fart on Hugh Grant.
I missed his reference to the book too. What is after the Oscars? THE VANITY FAIR PARTY!!!! That is what she is thinking of next, not some old book and obscure reference.
Hugh is terrible at red carpet. Ashley tried and was super sweet about the whole thing.
My perspective is that yes, it was a vapid, silly interview. But, Hugh, dude, your entire industry is vapid and silly. This wasn’t the Nobel ceremony. You’re not a doctor, scientist, or teacher. You’re an ACTOR in the capital of superficial nonsense. If you want erudite conversation go take a continuing ed course at Harvard,
Hate each other? Really? I don’t even think it was that deep. It doesn’t seem like she took it personally.
Agreed. Anyone that has worked in live/television knows this stuff happens all the time. the odds of a truly connected, engaged interviewer/interviewee are rare.
Saying “they hate each other” suggests Ashley did something equally problematic—and she didn’t. It’s like many of us office workers have experienced: a man behaves like a jerk, we take the high road, and then someone says “they don’t get along” or something equally misrepresentative. This takes the heat and focus off the trangressor and erases the woman’s valor.
Very true and very astute!
Man is jerk; woman is professional = both are problematic. ??????
Makes me so mad.
Team Hugh here. Do NOT come for him. I think they both played their roles well and get an A from me.
I will most definitely come for him. He’s a jerk. And that’s been well-known for years. I still enjoy his films but I won’t pretend that he is a kind person. He himself admits that he’s not.
it’s a role he is playing. you don’t really know these people.
@ RoyalBlue
Yes because verbally assaulting women and making them cry as part of a roll he’s playing. These are all thing he has admitted to this is not a roll. This is who he is you just don’t want to believe that.
@RoyalBlue – oh please. It isn’t a role. It’s who he is. He has a LITERAL reputation for being rude/mean to his female costars. It’s a well-known fact that he himself has acknowledged. Stop making excuses for a grown man’s verbally abusive behavior.
@RoyalBlue — he’s your quintessential upper class English twit. Rude, arrogant and supercilious. He thinks he’s soooo much more intelligent and witty than these American barbarians who haven’t read Thackeray. Taking the piss out of a perfectly nice woman just trying to do her job was a cheap shot. He came off looking like a complete wanker.
100% agree with ya, but he never claimed to be a nice guy. Ashley was professional in her response.
@ RoyalBlue
So because he never claimed to me a “nice guy” he get a pass ?
He was rude and disrespectful for no Reason there no excuses for his behavior .
Ashley was gracious. I just really wished she’d ended the interview by saying, “well bless your heart and have a good night”
First time watching it and I thought it was going to be so much worse. It was uncomfortable, but I wouldn’t say totally rude.
Agree. I was expecting this horrible interaction with expletives exchanged. It was slightly awkward but I have seen far worse.
I watched it again after our discussion about it here yesterday and I thought….wait, wheres the rest of it? What am I missing?
It was uncomfortable but it wasn’t anything more than that, of course Ashley Graham isn’t mad about it, its the only reason we’re talking about her on this site two days after the show.
I mean, it’s her job to be there to put the spotlight on the other celebrities and make them look good — it’s not their job to make her look good. She’s not a good interviewer, she wasn’t well-prepared, and it showed.
Still no excuse to be a total snot to her. Being polite doesn’t seem to be in his wheelhouse. He behaved like an entitled jerk.
“It’s so funny that people are trying to make this into some kind of beef?”
I agree, so why call it a beef in the headline?
All these excuses for a rude white man and we become outraged when women are still treated like shit. Amazing.
I’m surprised, but sadly not surprised at the same time about the number of people attacking Ashtray and calling her all sorts of names, to defend him because she didn’t get his joke and was happy.
Why are you calling her Ashtray? I hope that’s a spellcheck error.
Yes it is
Hmm. I agree he was not gracious. But she made me cringe far more than he did. She was just so unprepared. Maybe not her job, but does she not have people to pass possible questions on to her? I don’t mean that she didn’t get the Vanity Fair thing. I mean her question about his role in Knives Out and then when he points out that he was in it for three seconds, instead of moving on she doubles down and asks again if he had fun working on that film. Can they please please please hire people who are actually good at this sort of thing and not models next time? I mean look at how Lainey and her colleagues from etalk do it. There are people who are good at this or have good teams behind them
The Etalk crew is the best ! This is what they do as a job. Ashley is not a red carpet host. Why they chose her is beyond me. She didn’t even know Rihanna was performing ! She was not prepared. It seemed like she thought she could just wing it. It’s not as easy as it looks. I do think it was great she kept her smile and didn’t let the grumpy man get to her. I wish she had said something witty back to him, but I know she probably just wanted him gone lol !
Lainey was amazing.
I mean bottom line Ashley was gracious and polite throughout it all , and it didn’t let it bother her . But some people were like she should have been prepared , etc etc Just because she hasn’t read Vanity Fair or graduated from Oxford , no one has a right to put her or anyone down . She certainly did not Roll her eyes in front of him. If people doesn’t think that’s rude, how would you feel if a stranger rolls their eyes to you. That act itself speaks louder than words. The sarcastic humor is fine , but rolling eyes to someone is not very polite either.
Kudos to Ashley for actually being Kind. We don’t get enough of that these days.
And if Hugh Grant didn’t want to be there, why the heck fly thousands of miles to be (with what one Brit commenter called it ) with “vapid Anericans”. The cultural differences of what they really think of us (now I’m rolling my eyes lol).
It kind of is fair to point out that someone has not prepared for the thing they’re there to do though? If it was just the Vanity Fair reference, that would be one thing, but she conducted the whole interview pretty poorly (and others — Grant’s stood out more, but she didn’t do well much of the night).
WaPo is trying to figure out if Hugh is rude or just British:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/03/14/hugh-grant-oscars-ashley-graham-british/
In my opinion, she wasn’t the right person for the job. She wasn’t prepared, and I was turned off by that from the start.
That’s how we Nebraskans do 😂
Hugh Laurie or Emma Thompson would’ve been their witty charming selves in this exact situation. Hugh grant bathes in white male privilege ‘yes I’m a jerk’ shrugs shoulders keeps working. 🙄Women are called difficult once and their career is affected for years if not forever
Team Ashley on this one. She did her best in a situation where Hugh was giving her nothing. And I’m sorry – the Vanity Fair is a known thing but I wouldn’t have made the connection in real time when there is going to be a VF afterparty… Hugh could have and should have done better. And if he understandably wasn’t up for it, he should’ve skipped the carpet where he knew he’d be interviewed.