Welcome to the February 2 edition of Outrage Watch, HitFix's daily rundown of everything people are peeved about in entertainment. Today's top story? Diane Warren is far from “Grateful” for a certain British pop singer's non-promotion of their Oscar-nominated song.
“Outraged” may be a bit of an overstatement here, but the blockbuster songwriter certainly isn't happy with “Black Widow” songstress Rita Ora, who she claims fell down in promoting the pair's Oscar-nominated song from “Beyond the Lights.”
“I have to be really honest, I don't want to be a jerk or anything, but had I known about this lack of support [from Ora], there are other artists I'm working with that — if it had been up to me — I would have gone with,” Warren told The Huffington Post, noting that Ora also never responded to she and director Gina Prince-Blythewood's request to shoot a music video for the song.
What did Ora have to say about the matter? Via Yahoo! Movies: “I'm so thankful to be have been able to participate in a piece of Diane Warren's lyrical genius. I am incredibly 'grateful' that I will have the opportunity to perform at the Oscars thanks to her work, and I'm so glad that I'll be able to share it with a wider audience on February 22.” So…just gonna ignore this one, then?
Want more? There's plenty of indignation to go around. See below for a full roundup of today's kerfuffles, including all the Super Bowl umbrage you can handle.
Outraged: Millions of buzzkilled Americans
Target: Nationwide's jarringly dark Super Bowl commercial
Why: Emotional manipulation or necessary conversation-starter? Patton Oswalt was only the most high-profile Twitter user to decry the insurance giant's downbeat ad, in which a young boy highlights all the things he'll never be able to do because he “died in an accident.” Eesh. “A fun thing to do today is dress up like a clown, sneak up behind random children, and intensely whisper 'Nationwide is on your side,'” joked user @AlexBlagg. Nationwide responded to the outcry with a statement that reads in part: “The sole purpose of this message was to start a conversation, not sell insurance.” Whatever! Julia Roberts' voiceover career is finished.
Outraged: Men operating under the theory that their gender is “marginalized”
Target: Sarah Silverman/T-Mobile
Why: Misandry! It's a huge problem, you guys. So much so that a number of Twitter users reacted angrily to yesterday's T-Mobile ad in which Sarah Silverman jokes: “Sorry, it's a boy” when handing a newborn over to his mother. “Sorry it's a boy.' Because slamming males is cool,” griped user @hale_razor. “'Sorry it's a boy' this is why men punch you in the face in movies, @SarahKSilverman #SuperBowI,” tweeted @SooperMexican. Eloquent! (Read Jenny Kutner's excellent response to this over at Salon.)
Outraged: AMERIKKANS F*** YEAH
Target: Jeep's Super Bowl ad
Why: Real Americans “from California to the New York island” did their patriotic duty on Sunday by slamming a Super Bowl ad on the internet, angered at the inclusion of international landmarks like the Great Wall of China in Jeep's new ad for the Renegade SUV. “What kind of globalist bullshit is this?” wrote one. “I think Jeep may have shit the bed with that last commercial,” wrote another. “‘My land is…Afghanistan…”?” God help us.
Outraged: Slate writer Parker Marie Malloy
Target: The media's coverage of Bruce Jenner
Why: “Coming out as trans is such an intensely personal, painful, and challenging life event, and when you whisper about someone's gender identity, you're turning their life-right down to the core of their existence-into a joke, into gossip,” writes Malloy, herself transgender. Jenner and the Kardashian clan may have set a bad precedent here with their notorious tabloid-baiting tactics, but it's hard to argue with this.