Emily Blunt issues apology for ‘fat-shaming’ waitress in resurfaced TV interview

Emily Blunt came under fire for this interview that surfaced 13 years later. Photo / YouTube

Emily Blunt has issued an apology after an old interview surfaced where she called a waitress “enormous”.

The 40-year-old actress told a story on The Jonathan Ross Show in 2012, about her time making the movie Looper in the US but after footage emerged on YouTube this week, Blunt said she was left “appalled” by her choice of words.

She told People magazine: “I just need to address this head on as my jaw was on the floor watching this clip from 12 years ago. I’m appalled that I would say something so insensitive, hurtful, and unrelated to whatever story I was trying to tell on a talk show.

“I’ve always considered myself someone who wouldn’t dream of upsetting anyone so whatever possessed me to say anything like this in that moment is unrecognisable to me or anything I stand for. And yet it happened, and I said it and I’m so sorry for any hurt caused. I was absolutely old enough to know better.”

Emily Blunt is being criticized for fat-shaming a waitress in resurfaced Jonathan Ross interview. https://t.co/U21YtysgX3

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) October 20, 2023

In the video, Blunt spoke about eating dinner at a local Chili’s restaurant during filming.

Chat show host Jonathan Ross said to her: “If you go to Chili’s you can see why so many of our American friends are enormous.”

And, Blunt replied: “Well the girl who was serving me was enormous.”

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), fans shared their upset at the comment with one person sharing the video along with the caption, “Well I don’t like Emily Blunt anymore,” another wrote, “I’ll be avoiding anything Emily Blunt is in in future. Unpleasant little person.”

However, not all fans agreed and one came to the defence of the star saying the comment was taken out of context, “Not my norm [sic] content but can we just take note of the fact #EmilyBlunt only used the word ‘enormous’ because #JonathonRoss did! Everyone is so focused on Emily’s part of the convo. Watch what he says first, she’s simply validating what he says, it’s not that bad in context!”

Emily Blunt said she only ever lost weight for her role as Emily Charlton in The Devil Wears Prada.

Blunt previously spoke about the pressure on young girls and women to be thin, telling Parade magazine: “I am from a family of thin children, so I have always been okay with that. I’ve only lost weight for The Devil Wears Prada and that was because my character was supposed to be on the edge of anorexia.

“But I think the pressure is so huge on young girls right now to lose weight and it needs to diminish. It is becoming worrying how many super thin girls we see walking around, and they are so obviously ill. It is kind of accepted and it is glamorised more than it should be.”