Hollywood star Jennifer Lawrence is facing backlash after she falsely claimed that “nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie” prior to 2012’s “Hunger Games” — and Variety has since deleted its tweet in which she made that claim.
During a Variety Actors on Actors interview, the 32-year-old actress claimed she was the first woman ever to be cast in the lead role of an action film when she landed the part of Katniss Everdeen in the 2012 hit dystopian movie, which was not true, as previously reported.
“I remember when I was doing ‘Hunger Games,’ nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie because it wouldn’t work — because we were told girls and boys can both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead,” Lawrence claimed.
Lawrence spoke with fellow actress Viola Davis, who did not push back against the claim.
Twitter users slammed the actress, noting all the famous female stars who had landed lead action roles for decades before Lawrence did, citing Sigourney Weaver in 1986’s “Aliens,” Angelina Jolie in 2001’s “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” and Uma Thurman in 2003’s “Kill Bill: Volume 1.”
One Twitter user wrote, “She [Lawrence] can’t even really argue there was a regression before Hunger Games because female led action movies actually THRIVED in the 2000s with HUGE budgets. Franchises & movie stars were made. Angelina, Uma, Lucy, Cameron, Drew, Milla, Kate etc. Without them she wouldn’t be here.”
“Sure glad nobody ever told that to Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hamilton or Uma Thurman. They’d be pretty upset,” another user shared.
While another wrote, “Oh Jennifer, I love you like crazy, but did you never see any movies at all before you were hired for ‘Hunger Games’? I know there are some actors who never go to movies (Bob Hoskins was one, he never watched movies) but I would have thought you would have heard of, say, ‘Kill Bill.’”
Not long after, people noticed that Variety had deleted the tweet that included Lawrence’s false claim.
One person wrote, “Over in Hollywood, [Variety] deleted a tweet that highlighted a quote from actress Jennifer Lawrence. It was so untrue, that is brought a swarm of criticism. Not sure why Variety deleted it.”
Over in Hollywood, @Variety deleted a tweet that highlighted a quote from actress Jennifer Lawrence. It was so untrue, that is brought a swarm of criticism. Not sure why Variety deleted it. pic.twitter.com/AVteN4BNMr
— Jim Stinson (@jimstinson) December 7, 2022
Another person shared, “lol, Variety deleted the tweet because the Jennifer Lawrence quote was getting dragged so hard.”
lol, Variety deleted the tweet because the Jennifer Lawrence quote was getting dragged so hard pic.twitter.com/bcuVZKIPa2
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) December 7, 2022
At the time of this publication, neither Variety magazine or Lawrence had responded to any of the claims.