Mike Coppola/NBC(LOS ANGELES) — Melissa McCarthy isn’t afraid of critics. In fact, in the latest Entertainment Weekly, the comedian recalls confronting a film critic at the Toronto Film Festival last year after he wrote, among other things, that she only acts well when she looks attractive onscreen.
On Wednesday’s The Ellen DeGeneres Show, McCarthy recalled the same story. She said she first asked the critic if he had kids.
“He was actually a really kind man and spoke about his son and his daughter with a lot of love and kindness,” said McCarthy. “And when I said, ‘If she comes home and someone says, ‘You can’t have a job because you’re unattractive,’ I said, ‘Are you gonna say, ‘That’s right?’ And he took that in his heart and he was like, ‘No, I would never want that to happen. I would never in a million years want that to happen.'”
McCarthy said she told the critic to remember one thing when he writes reviews about women: “Just know every time you write stuff, every young girl in this country reads that and they just get a little bit chipped away.”
McCarthy said instead of the film critic getting upset, he actually listened. “I just think that we tear down women in this country for all these superficial reasons, and women are so great and strong, and I think he really heard that,” she added.
The actress said the critic’s comments only reflect a problem with society at large. “I think it’s a bad habit that we’ve gotten into, and it’s not that people are malicious. I just think it’s so easy to take a swipe and I’m like, just go the other way,” she explained, before encouraging people to instead “Build it up.”
McCarthy, who was just honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, will next be seen in Spy, out June 5.
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