Why Did Jennifer Lawrence's Genuine Praise for Meryl Streep Insult the Actress?

In the vast and intriguing world of Hollywood, many actors are well-recognized and well-off; fewer are famous and rich; fewer yet are those who are called legends.

From the previous and current generations, there are only so many performers who are considered icons and the finest of the finest in the movie industry.

Meryl Streep is most definitely one of them, and for a good reason.

Her name rings a bell even to those who never saw a picture move, and it’s subconsciously associated with unmatched legacy, immaculate performance, and class — that’s just the way the legendary actress has lived, and that’s how she shall be remembered by the others.

It only makes sense that younger movie stars, such as Jonah Hill and Jennifer Lawrence, would be deeply honored to work with Meryl Streep, so when they got such a chance — on 2021’s Don’t Look Up — they couldn’t hold back their excitement and respect for the esteemed actress. But there was a slight issue.

Since both Lawrence and Hill are way younger, they would often use words that Streep wouldn’t understand…including the words aimed at her.

During the numerous press conferences and interviews for the movie, the two young stars kept referring to Meryl Streep as “the GOAT,” but she was convinced they meant an actual animal.

“She’s the GOAT, right? Which, if you know, stands for Greatest of All Time. We’re doing a press conference and she’s like, ‘You know, Jonah is so comfortable with me. He’s been calling me a goat all week,’” Jonah Hill recalled later.

Admittedly, to Meryl Streep, it sounded like a friendly insult, as she thought she was being called that for being old and stubborn. Imagine the shock of the two younger actors when they finally realized how their words sounded to the Hollywood icon!

“Meryl kind of said, ‘That’s right, just tell the old goat where to go,’ and I was like, ‘Meryl, you know that GOAT means Greatest of All Time, right?’ And she was like, ‘Oh no,’ [because] this whole time she was just like, ‘Oh well, you know, like an old goat,'” laughed Jennifer Lawrence.

Here’s the age gap for you, and a lesson: perhaps, when you’re referring to someone you deeply respect and there are more than twenty years between you, you should consider using the more old-school words when you praise them. Otherwise, you risk making your icon think you are trying to insult them.

But it’s also quite hilarious, let’s be real here.

Source: ET Canada via YouTube