Chris O’Dowd does not blame anyone for thinking badly about the “Imagine” video he participated in earlier this year.
In March, after the coronavirus quarantine began, O’Dowd, 40, was one of several celebrities to participate in a kind of musical relay race, with stars singing excerpts from the famous John Lennon song, line by line.
The video received strong criticism, with many calling it “out of touch” seeing how people were sick and losing their jobs, while stars like O’Dowd and Gal Gadot, who started the video, were financially secure.
JUSTICE LEAGUE STAR RAY FISHERMAN CLAIMS DIRECTOR JOSS WHEDON WAS ‘ABUSIVE, NOT PROFESSIONAL’ ON SET
Now, the “Bridesmaids” star has opened up about participating in the video during an episode of the “Grounded” podcast.
O’Dowd explained that he participated because “I would do anything, Kristen.” [Wiig] asks me to do it, so of course we just did. It took five minutes, I didn’t think about it. I assumed it was for children. I know Gal [Gadot] He works for UNICEF, so I assumed it was a charity. “
The video begins with a message of encouragement from Gadot, 35, who noted at the time that it was the sixth day of quarantine. O’Dowd said the video emerged as part of “that first wave of creative diarrhea” once people were asked to stay home.
PIERCE BROSNAN SAYS ‘HE DOES NOT REPENT’ OF BEING REPLACED LIKE JAMES BOND
“It was just a group of people running around thinking they had to do something when we really didn’t,” he said. “We just needed to relax and assimilate everything.”
He added: “I think any reaction was justified.”
Chris O’Dowd attends the 15th Annual United States-Ireland Alliance Oscar Wilde Awards at Bad Robot on February 6, 2020 in Santa Monica, California (Photo by Jon Kopaloff / Getty Images)
O’Dowd called the backlash a “whirlwind” and that being part of it was “strange.”
“I’m glad it’s over and [we] it can happen to real things, “said the actor.
Jimmy Fallon, Natalie Portman, Will Ferrell, and Mark Ruffalo are among the other celebrities who participated in the video.
“I think in a situation like that, where you are portrayed by the rest of the world, it matters how your career works,” O’Dowd explained. “… We are definitely going through a phase of how the media or the people within it are interpreted by the people who see it.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The actor said he is not sure if personalities like him are doing “a bad job,” but that he is trying to “be a mirror to society,” meaning that when something like the “Imagine” video opens online, the People ask “these people who are supposed to represent us.”
