Jennifer Lawrence vs. The Fashion Police
By Iman-Jazelle Bond
Actress Jennifer Lawrence entered a recent feud with one of E! Network’s hit shows, “Fashion Police,” saying that they are teaching the younger generations to put value in the wrong things.
During an interview for Yahoo, Lawrence, 23, was questioned about her recent haircut. Following a rant on body image, she then began to say how shows like Fashion Police, “…are just showing these generations of young people to judge people based on things…and that it’s OK to point at people and call them ugly and call them fat and they call it ‘fun’ and ‘welcome to the real world.”
“It is mean spirited, it is demeaning, it is making fun of people because of the way they look or how they dress,” said Director of the Writing Center, Kathryn Inskeep.
The show originally aired as a special on E! during award season, recapping the outfits celebrities wore the night before. Since 2010, it has been a weekly series, and now covers and judges looks from red carpet events, as well as celebrities’ everyday outfits. The show also has signature segments such as, “Starlet or Streetwalker,” “Slut Cut,” and “Guess Me From Behind.” In these segments, they compare the outfits of starlets to the outfits of streetwalkers, talk about how short the outfits are compared to their runway versions and guessing the celebrity by their backside.
“The entire concept of the show is gross,” said graduate student, Heather Connors. “But they’re just doing their job and that’s entertainment.”
Comedian, Joan Rivers, who hosts the show along with Kelly Osbourne, Guiliana Rancic and George Kotsiopoulos, responded to Lawrence via Twitter.
“It’s funny how [she] loved [the show] during Award Season when we were complementing her every single week,” said Rivers. “But now that she has a movie to promote, suddenly we’re picking on all those poor, helpless, actors.”
Rivers later went on to say that it was “arrogance” that caused the actress to trip up the stairs when accepting her award for Best Actress at the 2013 Academy Awards.
Rivers, also known as “The Queen of Mean,” is known for being unfiltered and relentless when it comes to discussing fashion and beauty even if it’s about herself.
Senior English major, Jennifer Alverez-Otero, says that there is a difference between making fun of someone because they really do look crazy and just sitting and picking fun a several people. In the past, another member of the show, Osbourne, was criticized for calling singer, Christina Aguilera “fat” on multiple occasions.
“Fashion Police” is the most watched show after the major award shows during the Awards Season. Some of Kean University’s students and staff members believe that it is alright for a person to talk about the looks of others, but it is unacceptable to do it publically. Doing it publicly is what leads the show’s viewers to believe that is okay for them to do the same.
“I could see someone getting upset because someone else presumes to tell, to say what’s good and what’s not,” said Luiz Diaz, a graduate student.
Connors believes Rivers should thank Lawrence for the promo because most people don’t watch that network outside of the network’s number one show, “Keeping Up With The Kardashians.”
“When you tell someone that they’re this is not good or they’re that is not good, you’re basically saying ‘my opinion is better than yours,” said Otero. “It’s also offensive in that they think that their view, they’re um, perspective is the right one.”