Smallscreen News

'New Girl' star Zooey Deschanel defends remarks to LA Times writer

By April MacIntyre Jul 12, 2011, 17:18 GMT

05/16/2011 - Zooey Deschanel - 2011 Fox Upfront - Arrivals - Wollman Rink, Central Park - New York City, NY, USA © Charles Norfleet / PR Photos

There is a war of words going on between actress and star of FOX "The New Girl" series Zooey Deschanel over the perception of Downtown LA, and the Royals' recent visit.

Los Angeles Times write Patt Morrison laid aim in her op/ed "Downtown L.A.: Good Enough for the Royals but Not for Zooey Deschanel?" in which Morrison referred to the actress as a "snobby cow" and wrote: 

"I cannot apologize enough to Ms. Deschanel that in some places, the sidewalks do not smell like Jo Malone candles..."

"Ms. Deschanel's remarks are all the more gob-smacking because the success of her 2009 film (500) Days of Summer is chiefly thanks to ... downtown L.A.," Morrison continued. "Did Ms. Deschanel not look any farther than her trailer door?

"Maybe spending a little time at the inner-city arts school, or at the downtown women's shelter, might do her even more good than it could do to help out those laudable places. I mean, if it's not too hard for her to set foot once again in 'the worst of L.A.'"

The actress talked_back in her own blog post:

"Let me be clear: the quote from USA Today that you used as the foundation of your piece was taken completely out of context," Deschanel wrote in an open letter posted on HelloGiggles.com. "I NEVER said that Downtown LA was 'the worst of LA.'"

"I did make a reference to a parking lot adjacent to the theater that had a lot of trash in it in an attempt to be humorous. I simply said, 'It's funny they brought royalty here, there is a parking lot with trash around the corner.' It wasn't an opinion. It was true. There was indeed a parking lot with trash around the corner. I thought that the juxtaposition of British Royalty and trash was amusing in a high-brow + low brow sort of way, but I never said that I, personally, didn't like downtown, the Royals, or even trash."

"In your piece, the character you’ve created of 'me' is actually pretty funny. I don’t know who this person is, but it seems as if you’ve borrowed her from the Susan Lucci repertoire. You make so many far-fetched conclusions; for one thing, you state, “go back to your house on the Westside.” Well, I can’t do that because I do not live on the Westside. You also open your piece by calling me a 'cow', which might be your opinion, but I wish a journalist for the Los Angeles Times and KPCC had found a more sophisticated way of sharing a difference in perceived opinion.
 
It’s hard for me to comprehend why you launched such a vile and toxic blow in my direction over a sentence fragment that you did not even hear for yourself. I do hope that in the future when writing about something, especially a human being, you will consider both the facts and context before publishing your opinion.

Wonder if Patt will be at the coming Television Critics' Association (TCA) FOX party - where Deschanel most likely will be to promote her new series?