Wu’s tirade rankles
CONSTANCE Wu received devastating news on Friday: Her popular sitcom Fresh Off the Boat was renewed for a sixth season.
The actress caused a boatload of controversy by appearing to express almost existential unhappiness at the renewal of the popular ABC sitcom in expletive-ridden social media posts, some of which she has since deleted. On Saturday, she issued an essay explaining her displeasure.
The kerfuffle began last week, when ABC announced that Fresh Off the Boat would return. The sitcom, which follows a Taiwanese family who has immigrated to the US, was praised when it debuted in 2015 for featuring Asian-American actors, an underrepresented group on television. It served as a launchpad for Wu, who went on to co-star in Crazy Rich Asians.
Wu reportedly wrote the word “dislike” in the comments of ABC’s Instagram post announcing the renewal.
She also sent out a series of tweets, most of which cannot be printed in a family newspaper. One read, in part, “So upset right now that I’m literally crying. Ugh.”
When a fan tweeted: “Congrats on your renewal! Great news :),” she responded, “No it’s not”.
Wu was criticised on social media for her messages.
“Think about all the actors and crews today that shows didn’t get renewed and are devastated,” a user tweeted. “So maybe you shouldn’t be so upset that yours got renewed.”
She also received support.
“This is ridiculous,” a Twitter user wrote. “Actors live on a planned schedule and she had to say goodbye to plans she made because of an unexpected renewal. It’s not ungrateful it’s just anger. Who are any of us to judge her career moves. It’s not the first time a woman has had to apologise for this.”
Wu then wrote two tweets to clarify the situation.
“That was not a rampage… Y’all are making a lot of assumptions about what I was saying. And no, it’s not what it’s about. Stop assuming.”
She later added: “Today’s tweets were on the heels of rough day; were ill timed w/the news of the show. Plz know, Im so grateful for FOTB renewal. I love the cast; crew. Im proud to be a part of it. For all the fans support, thank u.”
On Saturday, Wu posted an essay on Twitter, which appears to have made things even worse.
She said she “was temporarily upset yesterday not bc I hate the show but bc its renewal meant I had to give up another project that I was really passionate about.”
She said her tweets were about the unnamed project, not about the show, which she said was “fun and easy and pleasant”. She sought roles that were hard.
“Sometimes even my closest friends are baffled at how I could value artistic challenge/difficulties over success/happiness. But I do. I know it’s weird. But my words and ill-timing were insensitive to those who are struggling, especially insensitive considering the fact that I used to be in that struggle too. I do regret that and it wasn’t nice and I am sorry.”