Emily Blunt has apologised for comments she made on a chat show 11 years ago about a restaurant worker’s weight.
In a resurfaced clip from The Jonathan Ross Show – first broadcast in September 2012, the 40-year-old actress referred to a waitress who served her at a Chili’s restaurant in Louisiana as “enormous”.
The comments were part of a story she told about the waitress recognising her while filming the 2012 movie Looper.
An edited clip of the exchange appeared on TikTok and X this week, with several online commentators accusing Blunt of being “fatphobic”.
She said at the time: “The girl who was serving me was enormous. I think she got freebie meals at Chili’s.”
Ross responded: “Nothing wrong with that.”
She said the worker then asked her: “Did anyone ever tell you you look like Emily Blunt?”
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The waitress soon realised that she was actually speaking to Blunt, who explained she was in the area for filming.
‘Insensitive and hurtful’
In a statement to People magazine, the actress said her “jaw was on the floor” when she watched the clip.
“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,” she said.
“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.”
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Blunt appeared on the Jonathan Ross show alongside the late actor Michael Gambon, comedian John Bishop, DJ David Guetta and Jack Antonoff’s band fun.
She is best known for her performances in The Devil Wears Prada, A Quiet Place and Mary Poppins Returns and most recently starred in Oppenheimer as J Robert Oppenheimer’s wife Katherine.