Bradley Cooper Faces Backlash for Implementing ‘No Chairs’ Policy On Set
Many critics accuse ‘The Star Is Born’ actor of being “Abeleist” and excluding disabled cast and crew members
The Comment
Actor Bradley Cooper’s latest comment on his preferred directing environment in an interview with Spike Lee on Variety’s “Directors on Directors,” has sparked criticism.
Cooper remarked, “There are no chairs on sets; I’ve always hated chairs and I feel like your energy dips the minute you sit down in a chair, so apple boxes are a nice way to sit.”
He also mentioned that there is “no video village” on the sets, which is the immediate area surrounding the director and their monitors. “I hate that, and want to “create a sacred space where things are occurring in real time,” explained the singer in the interview.
He expressed why he believed that by saying “I think going back and watching it and hearing it, I think that’s a vulnerable thing for an actor to hear. No one likes the sound of their voice anyway… so I want to make actors feel safe to be fearless.”
How people reacted?
He might have made this comment not with any bad intentions in mind have share his personal POV, however, Cooper’s comments have been met with criticism online, with many people calling him “ableist”.
One of the people tweeted, “The fact that he’s proud of this is sad,” while the other one questioned, “Strikes me as anti-disability, no?”
A few of the other remarks were, “As a wheelchair-bound actor, I feel like Bradley Cooper wouldn’t let me on set,” and “For Bradley Cooper and everyone else who needs to hear it, you get the best work out of folks when they feel safe, included, and their needs are met. If you have to create harsh conditions to get people to work, you are simply not good at leading. It’s a skill issue. ”
One of them made a snarky comment saying, “It’s a film set, not an Amazon warehouse, “Calm down Bradley,” and another one quipped “Anyway, I think every single person on set should get a provided chair, not just cast/video village because working 12 hour+ days without being allowed to sit down is inhumane.”
The comments were pretty harsh and struck a bad chord with the community online, however, there are no comments or responses from Bradley Cooper to the criticism yet.
