Constance Wu Admits to Being ‘Dramatic’ About Fresh Off the Boat Tweets
Constance Wu is opening up about her negative comments following the renewal of Fresh Off the Boat.
In May, the 37-year-old actress tweeted that she was “so upset” and “literally crying” after news that the hit ABC comedy series had been renewed for a sixth season. The next day, Wu walked back her comments and explained that the show’s renewal meant she had to “give up another project that I was really passionate about.”
In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Wu explained her “Twitter fiasco” and shared that the cast and crew of Fresh Off the Boat were supportive of her at the time.
“I had this moment of heat where I got upset because I had to give up a job I had been looking forward to and had been chasing for a while,” she said. “It was moving to me how many people from the show reached out to me, and even on set … to say, ‘Just so you know, we love you and we know who you are, and you didn’t deserve any of that stuff.’ Because they also know that I’m an actress — I can be dramatic.”
She continued, “I mean, that’s our toolkit, right? I’m dramatic. I’m emotional. But they also know that that doesn’t represent me because they have a hundred episodes of behavior that proves otherwise.”
The Times reported that the project Wu missed out on due to the season six renewal was a play where she would have had a “not Asian-specific” role.
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“I’m not beating myself up for it, because I know me,” the Crazy Rich Asians actress told the Times. “But I don’t think I realized that people were paying so much attention to my Twitter.”
Wu also opened up about allowing herself to be imperfect while being a “public figure.”
“I think a lot of why people are lonely in this world is because they go through these Instagram feeds and everybody’s life is perfect,” she said. “Nobody trips up. And sometimes I think, might it be good to see our heroes mess up a little bit and not always be perfect?”
“There is an expectation of the way that I ought to behave, and not just of perfection but of graciousness,” Wu continued. “And I am grateful. But am I elegant? No. I think I can be verbally eloquent sometimes, but as a human, am I an elegant person? No.”
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After news of Fresh Off the Boat‘s renewal in May, Wu shocked fans by tweeting, “So upset right now that I’m literally crying. Ugh. F—,” followed by a second tweet that read, “F—ing hell.”
And when a Twitter user congratulated Wu, writing, “Congrats on your renewal! Great news :),” the actress swiftly responded: “No it’s not.” (The tweets have since been deleted.)
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The next day, the actress clarified her comments in a lengthy message posted to Twitter.
“I love FOTB,” she began. “I was temporarily upset yesterday not bc I hate the show but bc its renewal meant I had to give up another project that I was really passionate about. So my dismayed social media replies were more about that other project and not about FOTB.“
Wu then wrote that FOTB is “a great show that I’m proud of and that I enjoy,” but that she was looking for “artistic challenge over comfort and ease.”
The actress also admitted that she understood her previous comments following the renewal were “insensitive.”
“I do regret that and it wasn’t nice and I am sorry for that. I know it’s a huge privilege that I even HAVE options — options that FOTB has afforded me,” she wrote.
Wu then concluded her lengthy message by saying: “People can hold conflicting feelings in their hearts — that conflict is a part of being human. So I can both love the show/cast/crew but at the same time be disappointed that I lost that other unrelated job.”
Wu can next be seen in Hustlers, which hits theaters on Sept. 13.
