Can we please all take a moment of gratitude for Melissa McCarthy? Because if some critics could have their way, we wouldn't be enjoying her twisted sense of humor. And who else would be curing Hollywood of its "intense sickness" of sexism the way McCarthy is?
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, McCarthy admitted she's stopped reading her negative press because it "hurts my heart." But she did get to confront one "journalist" who criticized her performance in the movie Tammy (directed by her husband, Ben Falcone) for all the wrong reasons.
"Are you the one who wrote I was only a good actor when I looked more attractive and that my husband should never be allowed to direct me because he allowed me to look so homely?" she asked him. He admitted he was. "Would you say that to any guy?” she challenged. “When John C. Reilly — or any actor — is playing a character that is depressed and dejected, would you say, ‘Well, you look terrible!’?"
But then McCarthy took it up a notch. She's the mother of two girls, so this is not just about her. This is about them, and all young girls growing up watching movies. She asked the critic if he has a daughter. He said he did.
"Watch what you say to her,” McCarthy warned him. “Do you tell her she’s only worthwhile or valid when she’s pretty?”
Ouch.
McCarthy goes on to confess to EW that Hollywood sexism is something she worries a lot about. “It’s an intense sickness,” she says.
For someone who has two daughters, I’m wildly aware of how deep that rabbit hole goes. But I just don’t want to start listening to that stuff. I’m trying to take away the double standard of ‘You’re an unattractive bitch because your character was not skipping along in high heels.'
Well I hope McCarthy can keep fighting that double standard. She definitely has added moral authority as a mom of daughters. And she's certainly not alone in the fight. (Lately Amy Schumer has been killing it.) I would hate to imagine on everything we'd have missed out on if McCarthy had given in to the negativity. That one scene in Bridesmaids where she gives Kristen Wigg the kick in the pants she needs -- that alone!!! Thanks to McCarthy's persistence, women have more creative space to imagine ourselves into.
And you know what? We don't have to let sexism have the final say. Every time we support artists like McCarthy we are voting for what WE want to see, and the world we want our kids to inherit.
Do you perceive sexism in Hollywood? Do you worry about its effect on your kids?
Image via Splash News