Julie Delpy said at Sundance last week that there is “nothing worse” than being a woman in Hollywood and she sometimes wishes she were African American, but the Oscar-nominated writer and actress found herself clarifying her comments a day later.
Delpy, who was nominated for best writing and best adapted screenplay Academy Awards for 2014’s "Before Midnight" and 2005’s "Before Sunset,” complained Friday about how difficult it is to be female in the industry.
“Two years ago, I said something about the Academy being very white male, which is the reality, and I was slashed to pieces by the
media,” she told TheWrap Friday at the film festival. “It’s funny — women can’t talk. I sometimes wish I were African American because people don’t bash them afterward . . . It’s the hardest to be a woman. Feminists is something people hate above all. Nothing worse than being a woman in this business. I really believe that.”
Some saw her comments as diminishing the #OscarsSoWhite race controversy that erupted after only white actors were nominated for the top awards for the second year in a row.
But Delpy sought to refine her comments in a
statement Saturday, according to Entertainment Weekly.
"I'm very sorry for how I expressed myself," Delpy said. "It was never meant to diminish the injustice done to African-American artists or to any other people that struggle for equal opportunities and rights, on the contrary.”
"All I was trying to do is to address the issues of inequality of opportunity in the industry for women as well (as I am a woman). I never intended to underestimate anyone else's struggle! We should stay alert and united and support each other to change this unfair reality and don't let anyone sabotage our common efforts by distorting the truth," Delpy added.
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