Jennifer Lawrence's star has continued to burn bright this past year. She received top-billing over co-star Chris Pratt in the box office hit Passengers, and then went on to work with acclaimed director Darren Aronofsky on the polarising feature, Mother! And this isn't even mentioning the fact that she's the second-youngest person to win an Oscar, one of the world's highest-paid actresses, and is universally adored for how down-to-earth she is.
But not even Jennifer Lawrence can get away with throwing shade at the veritable national treasure that is Joanna Lumley. The actress of "sweetie darling" fame, is one half of Absolutely Fabulous's beloved foul-mouthed, boozing, and chain-smoking duo. It's no surprise then that Brits took to Twitter to roast Lawrence for being "rude" to the 71-year-old during this weekend's Bafta Awards ceremony.
Lumley was presenting the awards show for the first time when she introduced Jennifer Lawrence as the "hottest actress on the planet".
Kicking off the 71st British Academy Film Awards, the Ab Fab star asserted: "Right let’s start giving out some of those beautiful Baftas shall we?"
"And we start with the award for Outstanding British Film, and who better to kick the whole evening off than the hottest actress on the planet. Soon to be seen in Red Sparrow, it’s the ravishing Jennifer Lawrence."
Jennifer, however, appeared to be a little overwhelmed the lavish praise, and responded by saying, "Hi, that was a bit much, but thank you Joanna". But while many viewers understood why the 27-year-old would feel embarrassed, others were quick to roast the actress for being "disrespectful" and even "stuck up".
One Twitter user wrote, "Jennifer Lawrence: You're a bit up yourself luv. And do NOT be rude to Joanna!!!". Another added "I hope Jennifer Lawrence is ready for the back lash for being rude to Joanna Lumley! No need for it!".
Other social media users were more sympathetic, however, and understood that Jennifer may have been worried about seeming "humble" in light of Lumley's comments.
"Oof, the palpable awkwardness from Jennifer Lawrence throwing shade at Joanna Lumley as she stepped on the stage. Granted, whoever wrote "hottest actress in the world" into the autocue should have been taken aside for being a t**t," one individual wrote,
Others chose to take a more political stance - and referenced the #MeToo and Time's Up movements - writing, "So #Timesup is a thing yet upon Jennifer Lawrence introduction she's described as hot and ravishing. So much for respect and dignity and defining people by their appearance isn't at all demeaning".
However, in an interview with Ronan Keating today, Lawrence insisted that her response was simply an "inside joke".
"Backstage Joanna and I were about to go out and she was going to present me. So I’m like, just adjective after adjective, ‘tall, beautiful, just say that I’m this and that,’ and she was like, ‘alright darling,’ so it was an inside joke and she went on and said all these nice things to me, so when I got onto to the podium I said, ‘that was a bit much’ like after I’d just spent backstage telling her to be nice to me."
The Silver Linings Playbook star went on to explain that if she'd responded differently it would have looked as if she was accepting a compliment 'Mean Girls style'.
"But to be fair, I couldn’t have just walked out after she was like, ‘biggest movie star in the world!’ And I’d just walked out and gone ‘thank you Joanna’.
"It would have been like, ‘so you agree? You think you’re really pretty?'"
In other, less dramatic, news, Jennifer Lawrence has revealed why the nude scenes in Red Sparrow made the crew "uncomfortable".