Vanity Fair: That Awkward Hugh Grant Interview at the Oscars
If you watched “Countdown to the Oscars” on ABC this year, you saw the notoriously awkward interview between model Ashley Graham and Hugh Grant.
If you missed it, you may wonder why so many people were suddenly talking about a William Makepeace Thackeray novel.
What Happened, and How Did a Dead Victorian Novelist Get Involved?
Model Ashley Graham was one of the hosts of the pre-show event. Yes, it’s frivolous, and yes, some people can’t stand watching that sort of thing. To her, it’s a job.
As part of her job, she was interviewing people on the red carpet. (It was a champagne-colored carpet this year, so I’m glad I didn’t have to clean it.)
Then, she saw started to interview Hugh Grant. He was not engaged in the interview at all, so the whole thing got awkward.
You can see the short yet infamous exchange on YouTube or in the ET article Hugh Grant Rolls His Eyes at Ashley Graham After Awkward 2023 Oscars Red Carpet Interview. Or aptly enough, you can watch it on the Vanity Fair Twitter post.
Now we come to the Victorian novelist…
Is That a William Makepeace Thackeray Novel in Your Pocket?
There were many awkward parts of the interview. But for me, the part that stood out was when Hugh Grant responded to a question and said, “It’s fascinating. The whole of humanity is here. It’s a vanity fair.”
OK, I’m a nerd, so I thought of the William Makepeace Thackeray novel Vanity Fair. (You can see a Reader’s Guide from Penguin Books here, and you can read it for free on Project Gutenberg.)
Ashley Graham thought he was talking about the famous Oscar afterparty sponsored by Vanity Fair magazine. A natural reaction.
Yet many people chided Ashley Graham for not understanding Hugh Grant’s reference to Vanity Fair.
Most believed Hugh Grant was referring to Vanity Fair, the very lengthy novel by William Makepeace Thackeray. Some thought he was citing the concept of Vanity Fair from John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.
But who makes references to William Makepeace Thackeray (or Pilgrim’s Progress) during an interview on the red carpet?
Hugh Grant, that’s who.
I have adored many Victorian novels. Yet I don’t expect people to understand references to them. Especially during a hectic red-carpet interview.
Also, I thought it was awfully suspicious that so many people on Twitter turned out to be secret William Makepeace Thackeray fans.
Yes, it’s clever to refer to Vanity Fair hours before the Vanity Fair party.
But let’s not dump on somebody for not getting the reference. I don’t stop random police officers on the street and ask who they think murdered Edwin Drood. Because they would likely take me into the station rather than recognizing the reference to Charles Dickens’s unfinished final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Nor do I ask random people about Lady Audley’s Secret.
Yes, it would be great if more people knew about those things. But stop assuming that not knowing about Thackeray makes people vacuous or stupid or otherwise horrible.
Both Hugh Grant and Ashley Graham Were Panned
Some outlets slammed Hugh Grant for the way he treated Ashley Graham. Rolling Stone asked why he bothered doing the interview if he was going to be such a dick about it. He was criticized in the Fox News article Hugh Grant Criticized for “Rude” Oscars Red Carpet Interview and the 105.7 WROR article Hugh Grant’s Rude Oscar Interview With Ashley Graham.
Others took jabs at Ashley Graham. For the New York Post, columnist Kirsten Fleming wrote, Hugh Grant Did Nothing Wrong in Ashley Graham Oscars Interview — She Did. This columnist joked about the Vanity Fair reference going over Ashley Graham’s head.
Many social media posts slammed Ashley Graham for participating in a “dumb” event (which they were watching). For not doing enough research on Hugh Grant. For not getting the Vanity Fair reference. Again, for not getting the Vanity Fair reference. And yet again, for not getting the Vanity Fair reference.
The self-proclaimed William Makepeace Thackeray fans are coming out of the woodwork.
People forget that not everyone gets exposed to the same things in life. My mother grew up in France, so she wouldn’t get the reference because they didn’t teach William Makepeace Thackeray in her schools. But if you mentioned Balzac or Moliere or Victor Hugo, she’d get those references. And she’d pronounce the authors’ names better than you.
Rude or Bored or Clever or British?
On Twitter, people saw this as a sign of a cultural divide between Americans and British people. Many British people quipped about how Hugh Grant wasn’t being rude, he was just being British. Others also stood up for him.
While many media outlets either bashed Hugh Grant or scolded Ashley Graham, CNN emphasized that opinions are divided.
The Washington Post cleverly asked: Is Hugh Grant rude or just British? On Twitter, Dave Jorgenson of the Washington Post admitted he couldn’t tell if Hugh Grant was being rude or just goofy.
Others point out that Hugh Grant is one of those celebrities who is sick of the bullshit around Hollywood events. This is highlighted by Vulture in the article Hugh Grant Cares Not for Your Silly Little Award Show. And in the AV Club article, Hugh Grant Leads the Way in Being Absolutely Sick of Tonight’s Oscars.
How Has Ashley Graham Responded?
As Vanity Fair magazine put it, she is shrugging it off. She hasn’t let it get under her skin.
As Ashley Graham told TMZ, she had fun at the event. Her only complaint was that her feet hurt after the event.
She is also known for being a plus-sized model and TV presenter (and producer) and for promoting body positivity. And for her popular Instagram account.
Meanwhile, Hugh Grant compared himself to a scrotum while onstage at the Oscars. So while he could teach Ashley Graham about William Makepeace Thackeray… She could teach him about body positivity.
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