Jenna Bush Hager Apologizes for ‘Hidden Fences’ Slip-Up at 2017 Golden Globes
Jenna Bush Hager isn't hiding away from her Hidden Figures slip-up — she apologized this morning (January 9) on Today for mixing up two of the Golden Globes' most prominent films in which actors of color are stars.
Bush Hager, who referred to Hidden Figures as Hidden Fences during an interview with Pharrell, said the excitement of her first awards show thrust her nerves into overdrive, and made her mind move more quickly than her mouth.
Hidden Figures, starring Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson and Janelle Monae, is about black NASA scientists while Fences, starring Viola Davis and Denzel Washington, chronicles the lives of a 1950s black couple, and is an adaptation of August Wilson's 1983 play.
"If I offended people, I'm deeply sorry. It was a mistake, because ya'll know I'm not perfect," she says. "Authentic, but a human. And what I didn't wanna do is make anybody feel lesser than who they are. I apologize to both the cast and Pharrell. But it was a mistake, and I hope we can all move on."
Pharrell said that "everyone makes mistakes" in a Monday tweet to Bush Hager, and joked, "Hidden Fences does sound like an intriguing movie though. Just saying..."
Still, Bush Hager wasn't the only one who slipped up. While presenting the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Michael Keaton also, somehow, addressed the film in which Spencer appears as Hidden Fences.
TMZ reported that Keaton did eventually apologize, noting "I screwed it up...I'm a horrible person." Then, strangely, he added, "I'm gonna sleep pretty well."
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