Jennifer Lawrence's controversial new movie has once again made her the so-called alt-right's favorite punching bag.
The star's latest film, Mother!, features a vague biblical reference that prompted several conservative critics to go on the attack and caused others to call for a boycott—the third time in the last few weeks that Lawrence has enraged conservatives.
"The chickens have finally come home to roost for Jennifer Lawrence's hateful mouth," Breitbart editor John Nolte wrote Saturday. Mother! "is a catastrophe for Lawrence, one of Hollywood's most stridently bigoted (former) stars."
It's unclear the Mother! boycott worked—the $7.5-million weekend gross made it the mother of all bombs—because the Darren Aronofsky-directed film received horrific reviews across the entire political and artistic spectrum.
But it is clear that the outspoken Lawrence has emerged as a lightning rod.
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Divisions between Lawrence and the alt-right erupted in August, when she was photographed in front of the Statue of Liberty for the cover of Vogue, along with an article titled, "American Beauty: Jennifer Lawrence on Love, Liberty and the Freedom to be Herself."
Conservatives who were triggered by the cover called for a boycott on the entire mainstream media. "We're going to have to create a full #MAGA shadow cultural industry because the Opposition Media can't even do fashion without attacking us," tweeted John Carney, a top Breitbart editor, who later deleted the post.
"Jennifer Lawrence does not deserve this," wrote Twitter user Dauphin Hudson. "125 models should have graced this iconic issue bad move Vogue."
Then, earlier this month, Lawrence, the highest-paid actress over the previous two years, enraged conservatives by linking Hurricanes Harvey and Irma to global warming—and its main culprit.
"Climate change is due to human activity," Lawrence said during a promotional interview for Mother! "You're watching these hurricanes now and it's hard, especially while promoting this movie, not to feel Mother Nature's rage and wrath."
Conservatives saw that as Trump-bashing from the famously liberal actress.
"Hollywood idiot Jennifer Lawrence begs Trump's deplorable supporters to not watch her movies, doesn't want us as fans. Don't worry, DONE," tweeted Mike Zollo.
Lawrence protested that she was not blaming the president—"Obviously I never claimed that President Trump was responsible for these tragic hurricanes," she wrote on her Facebook page, but the comments from the two-time Oscar winner did not appease right-wingers.
The trio of controversies may have played a role in the poor box office grosses for Mother!, which are by far the worst since Lawrence became a worldwide star when she was nominated for her first Academy Award for the 2011 film, "Winter's Bone." Conservatives were taking credit for the flop.
"It's an indictment of God and religion," one 4chan user wrote about Mother! "Also, Jennifer Lawrence is fucking awful."
Others falsely claimed, "She actually said she doesn't want Trump supporters to see it" and had "dared" the president's base to refrain from seeing the film.
Then again, Lawrence has been known to anger liberals, too.
The actress was criticized last year after sharing a "tone deaf" and "culturally insensitive" story about an experience she had at a sacred site in Hawaii while filming The Hunger Games.
Lawrence admitted she sat on sacred rocks, defiantly exposing her butt on the area to scratch an itch.
"I meant absolutely no disrespect to the Hawaiian people," Lawrence said in a Facebook post after the interview went viral. "I really thought that I was being self-deprecating … I apologize if I offended anyone."
She had.
Uncommon Knowledge
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About the writer
Chris Riotta is a reporter from New York and is a Master's candidate in Journalism at Columbia University. He has ... Read more
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