Rose McGowan is not buying Natalie Portman’s brand of activism.
On Tuesday night, the former “Charmed” star, memoirist and activist expressed her disgust with the “protest” cape Portman wore to the 2020 Oscars in a Facebook post.
“I find Portman’s type of activism deeply offensive to those of us who actually do the work,” McGowan wrote. “I’m not writing this out of bitterness, I am writing out of disgust. I just want her and other actresses to walk the walk.”
Portman’s cape — which was embroidered with the names of female directors who made noteworthy films in 2019 — showed solidarity with those who were frustrated that no women were nominated for Best Director. Images of Portman’s cape went viral.
McGowan also called out Portman, saying she was “more like an actress acting the part of someone who cares,” for not working with many female directors herself.
McGowan pointed to Portman’s nearly 30-year acting career, claiming that the Oscar-winning actor has worked with only two female directors, including when she self-directed “A Tale of Love and Darkness.”
Portman’s IMDb page shows that the “Lucy in the Sky” star previously worked with Rebecca Zlotowski in 2016’s “Planetarium,” Mira Nair in 2008’s “New York, I Love You” and Sofia Coppola in her ads for Dior. She also worked with women in two shorts and one James Blake music video.
However, Portman’s production company, Handsomecharlie Films, has made eight movies, but only one — “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” which Portman directed herself — was directed by a woman.
It’s a bit of unfortunate information that others pointed out when they saw Portman’s protest cape.
This also isn’t the first time Portman has spoken out against a lack of female directors receiving awards. In 2018, she said, “And here are the all-male nominees,” while presenting the award for Best Director at the Golden Globes.
Portman has not yet publicly responded to McGowan’s statement, nor has she responded to HuffPost’s request for comment.
“As for me, I’ll be over here raising my voice and fighting for change without any compensation,” McGowan concluded in her post. “That is activism. Until you and your fellow actresses get real, do us all a favor and hang up your embroidered activist cloak, it doesn’t hang right.”