Seth Rogen, Judd Apatow Respond to Washington Post Critic Ann Hornaday

Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow took to Twitter to denounce Washington Post critic Ann Hornaday.

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Washington Post film critic Ann Hornadaypublished an op-ed yesterday slamming Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow for creating a “cinematic grammar…of violence, sexual conquest and macho swagger” that pushed Elliot Rodger commit mass murder at UCSB on Friday, and as you might expect the two were not at all pleased with the implication.

Rogen fired back first:

.@AnnHornaday I find your article horribly insulting and misinformed.

He then proceeded to get a bit more indignant, as seemed warranted:

.@AnnHornaday how dare you imply that me getting girls in movies caused a lunatic to go on a rampage.

Apatow took the wider view, seeing the article not as a personal attack but rather a shameless attempt by the author to make a name for herself:

@Sethrogen: .@AnnHornaday I find your article horribly insulting and misinformed.”She uses tragedy to promote herself with idiotic thoughts

An enterprising follower of Apatow pointed out how quickly the narrative shifted away from mental illness, the thing that is most centrally at the heart of the story. The director was quick to note that, despite its incredible importance, mental illness isn’t much of a money-maker:

@melissa5001: @Sethrogen @marshallsheldon @AnnHornaday why is it always everything but mental illness?” Because that doesn't sell papers.

And, ultimately, Apatow rounded out his thoughts by commenting on the state of newspaper journalism as a whole:

Remember everyone - ads next to articles generate money. They say something shocking and uninformed & get you to click on it to profit.

A back-and-forth like this feels particularly sad, because it distracts us from the actual tragedy itself. The onus is ultimately on the reporter for clearly click-baiting and dragging celebrities into it, which takes a story and turns it into a spectacle. It's worth noting that Hornaday only uses one throwaway line in the final paragraph to touch upon mental illness, yet spews plenty of venom at the likes of Apatow and Rogen.

She has yet to respond to the offended celebrities' tweets, and it will be very interesting to see how she chooses her words.

[via Gawker]

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