In an email to Buzzfeed, Rock 100.5 Morning host Jason Bailey writes that the station’s recent controversial interview with Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Jamie Bell wasn’t intended to be incendiary:
Absolutely not! That’s not mine or the show’s thing. Look, not a huge fan of these controlled 5-7 minute interview junkets they run in the first place but I was curious about the brother and sister thing. You have a white sister and black brother wouldn’t you want to know how that happened? I did. The other Fantastic Four franchises explain the relationship so I figured with this new hipster version they’d have some different backstory.
My partner’s (Southside Steve) [Rickman] conversation about Kate’s hair is something that came up while Michael B Jordan took a phone call so I think they were kind of just going back forth in a playful way. As for him complimenting her toes and why people are upset about that…sorry…no idea. Steve likes girl’s toes. People should be appreciative when they get complimented. Those that are upset on Twitter I guess don’t get enough of them. Who knows?
AJC.Com reports that while on air this morning Bailey said the interview had been “blown way out of proportion […] We can’t ask race in a story line fashion in a movie that’s make believe and not have the word racist thrown around?” Referring to Rickman’s comments about Mara’s toes, Bailey reportedly said “If I had a nickel every time Steve said that to a man or a woman… I would be very very wealthy. It’s just a Steve thing.”
AJC.Com’s Rodney Ho writes that Rickman texted him a statement about the interview, in which the radio host explained “I guess it was the time frame [they were scheduled to have five to seven minutes with the cast] or her mood that it came across as sexist. I was just shocked to see that she cut 22 inches off her head, but she looked fine with short hair too.”
Once again:
(screenshot via Buzzfeed)
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