Jennifer Lawrence had great words of praise for her friend Amy Schumer and her courage to face personal attacks for her activism.
“Amy’s decision to use her voice to speak out for justice places her under immense fire,” the Academy Award-winning actress, 33, said. Variety as part of a profile on Schumer, 42.
Lawrence continued, “I wouldn’t say he navigates it so much as he raises his middle finger and steers clear of negative comments, like a gas station fire in a Michael Bay movie.”
Schumer told Variety about an instance in March in which she was verbally abused, months after expressing her support for Israel following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on a music festival, which sparked the current conflict in the Middle East.
Schumer said she was in Brooklyn, near the subway, working on an upcoming movie titled Kinda Pregnant, when a passerby yelled at her: ‘Fuck you, Amy Schumer!’ You are a Zionist! You love genocide!’
Jennifer Lawrence, 33, had high praise for her friend Amy Schumer, 42, and her mettle in the face of personal attacks for her activism. Photographed in Paris in February.
The Trainwreck actress, who in the past has turned off her comments on social media amid scathing comments, said she’s gotten used to it at this point.
“It didn’t even increase my heart rate,” Schumer said of the on-set incident. ‘Do not Cry. Nothing.’
Schumer said he “can’t help” making comments that could spark controversy and backlash against him.
“A lot of people can avoid it, but I’ve never been able to,” he told the outlet. ‘But I also want to be useful. You know what I mean?’
Speaking with Variety, Schumer said he found inconsistencies in the public’s perception of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
“The focus is clearly on the Jewish people, but not on Hamas,” he said. ‘It’s very strange.
‘So I would recommend people read a book: Israel: A Simple Guide to the World’s Most Misunderstood Country by Noa Tishby. Or anything: the Jews wrote it all.
Schumer and Lawrence were seen posing for a selfie three years ago
Schumer and Lawrence posed for a photo at the Women’s March protest in Washington DC in October 2021.
Schumer and Lawrence joined as presenters at the 2016 Golden Globes in Los Angeles
Schumer, who appears in the upcoming Netflix film Unfrosted, directed by Jerry Seinfeld, spoke about the ongoing social conflict stemming from the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
“It’s gotten to the point where you can’t speak on behalf of other Jews without people feeling like it’s a slight to the conditions in Gaza,” Schumer said.
Schumer said his support for Israel should not be confused with support for its government leaders.
“I don’t agree with anything (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu is doing, and neither do the Israelis I know,” Schumer said. ‘Of course, what is happening in Gaza is disgusting, horrifying and unthinkable. And I don’t think it’s okay to hate anyone because he was born Jewish.”
In the interview, Schumer also said that a long-running comedy project he had with Lawrence, in which they would play brothers, was unlikely to come to fruition.
“I don’t think that will ever happen,” he said. “It was like life continued. My family was going through a difficult time. I don’t want to say anything more than that.
He added: “The way we hope our careers are going, we could do something with more determination.”
Lawrence told Variety that he felt the time for the aforementioned project had passed: “Now that we’re older, a sister comedy may not resonate as much. But we have every intention of working together.”
