Furious conservative voices have trawled the vaults to unearth an eight-year-old reason to criticize Hollywood star Anne Hathaway.
The actress, 43, stars in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, which has made $286.3 million in the U.S. after just two weeks and almost $640 million globally.
The MAGA-proof movie, which also stars Matt Damon, Zendaya, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, and Charlize Theron, is a 21st-century adaptation of Homer’s historical epic.
The MAGA rage over the smash movie comes from the belief that Nolan’s take on the Ancient Greek poem is too woke, including the dual Oscar-winning director’s casting choices of Kenyan-Mexican actress Lupita N’yongo as Helen of Troy and transgender actor Elliot Page as Sinon, a Greek soldier from the war.
Hathaway plays Penelope, the queen of Ithaca, wife of Odysseus (Damon), and mother of Telemachus (Holland).
An eight-year-old clip of Hathaway receiving the 2018 National Ally for Equality Award from the LGBTQ organization the Human Rights Campaign is now being shared by right-wing figures online, as the movie heads toward making over a billion dollars at the box office.
As part of her 12-minute impassioned speech, Hathaway discussed culture war issues that were becoming politicized one year into Trump’s first term as president.
“It is important to acknowledge with the exception of being a cisgender male, everything about how I was born has put me at the current center of a damaging and widely accepted myth,” Hathaway said in 2018.
“That myth is that gayness orbits around straightness, transgender orbits around cisgender, and that all races orbit around whiteness,” she continued, provoking a major round of applause from the audience.
The Devil Wears Prada star continued, “This myth is wrong. But this myth is too real for too many... It is a habit, so it’s assumed to be the way things are.”
Hathaway said the myth was “dangerous,” as it prioritizes a “certain kind of skin color” and not anything deemed to be “other.”
“And it is a myth that keeps money and power in the hands of the few, instead of being invested in the lives of the free,” she said.
The Hollywood star said she “rejected” the myth and planned to “destroy it.”
Her speech ended with her saying, “Now, let’s tear this world apart and build a better one.”
A clip of her 2018 comments was shared last week by an X account called Her Tribe Vibe, with less than 3,000 followers.
Claiming it was a “new speech,” the account, which supports controversial author JK Rowling, said it was a “lie” that gender is just a social construct.
“Her claim that biological reality must be destroyed is not a `solution’ to anything. It is a direct assault on truth,“ the account said. ”No matter how many celebrities smile and applaud, men cannot be women, and biological sex is a fundamental fact.”
That clip has now been viewed almost 3 million times, giving it more attention than the full speech on YouTube, which has just over 30,000 views.
On Sunday, conservative radio host Buck Sexton picked up and ran with the clip, saying, “Imagine being so narcissistic and deluded that you’d say something like this in front of a crowd because you think it makes you sound wise and virtuous.”
Elon Musk also weighed in on the resurfaced video. The former DOGE boss previously claimed that Nolan had “desecrated” The Odyssey to be eligible for an Academy Award. The world’s richest man has said he is using AI to make a “historically accurate” version of the film to be released before the end of the year.
Commenting on right-wing influencer Kyle Becker‘s criticism, Musk added, “She’s just reading the script someone else wrote. No critical thinking is happening here at all.”
Fox News host Tomi Lahren also took the chance to hit out at the pregnant Odyssey star’s 2018 speech. “A reminder that her standing up there on her perch in her fancy gown and updo delivering this self-righteous lecture cost her absolutely zero. She makes no sacrifice. She loses nothing. Yet, she is hailed as brave and bold. For what? Words.”
Podcast host said Don Keith said the video saw Hathaway blasting “straight white people,” while conservative commentator Link Lauren pointed out Hathaway’s financial status and how she benefits from “pretty privilege.”
“You also don’t have to apologize for being straight, white, rich and beautiful,” Lauren said. “No one cares.”
The Daily Beast has contacted reps for Hathaway for comment.
