Jennifer Aniston is ‘so over’ cancel culture: ‘I just don’t understand what it means’

Jennifer Aniston wants to cancel cancel culture.

“I’m so over cancel culture,” the Friends star told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Monday (Aug 21).

“I probably just got cancelled by saying that. I just don’t understand what it means. … Is there no redemption? I don’t know. I don’t put everybody in the Harvey Weinstein basket.”

Aniston, whose Apple TV+ program The Morning Show deals directly with the topics at the centre of the #MeToo movement, went on to clarify that while she was never personally victimised by Weinstein, she also doesn’t recalled any pleasant interactions with the now-disgraced producer.

“He’s not a guy, you’re like, ‘God, I can’t wait to hang out with Harvey.’ Never,” she said. “You were actually like, ‘Oh, God, OK, suck it up.’ I remember actually, he came to visit me on a movie to pitch me a movie. And I do remember consciously having a person stay in my trailer.”

Weinstein told WSJ in response that Aniston “never had any uncomfortable instances with me.”

This wasn’t the first time the Murder Mystery actor, who is also an executive producer on The Morning Show, has spoken out about the current state of cultural sensibilities.

“Now it’s a little tricky because you have to be very careful, which makes it really hard for comedians, because the beauty of comedy is that we make fun of ourselves, make fun of life,” Aniston told the French outlet AFP in March. “(In the past) you could joke about a bigot and have a laugh – that was hysterical. And it was about educating people on how ridiculous people were. And now we’re not allowed to do that.”

“There’s a whole generation of people, kids, who are now going back to episodes of Friends and find them offensive,” Aniston added. “There were things that were never intentional and others … well, we should have thought it through – but I don’t think there was a sensitivity like there is now.”

Especially in the United States, where everyone is “far too divided,” we can’t “take ourselves too seriously,” Aniston told AFP.

The Emmy winner also spoke with the WSJ about how her parents’ tumultuous marriage has affected how she views her own romantic relationships.

“My parents, watching my family’s relationship, didn’t make me kind of go, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to do that,'” she said.

“I didn’t like the idea of sacrificing who you were or what you needed, so I didn’t really know how to do that. So it was almost easier to just be kind of solo. So I didn’t have any real training in that give-and-take.”

Aniston noted she’s currently in a phase of self-discovery and prioritising her own desires.

“It’s just about not being afraid to say what you need and what you want,” she said. “And it’s still a challenge for me in a relationship. I’m really good at every other job I have.” – Los Angeles Times/Tribune News Service