Jenna Ortega has spoken out about a viral video in which she was spotted defending Winona Ryder from photographers yelling orders at her.
Ortega and Ryder have been spending a lot of time in front of cameras recently thanks to their ongoing press tour for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which also stars Michael Keaton, Catherine O’Hara and Willem Dafoe.
The movie had its premier at Venice Film Festival on August 28, so Ortega, Ryder and O’Hara were among those walking the red carpet and smiling for the cameras.
Ryder and O’Hara both wore sunglasses as paparazzi snapped away, but one video caught photographers shouting at Ryder to take off the shades.
“Without sunglasses!,” they yelled, prompting Ryder to move her hand to her face.
But before she gave in altogether, she hesitated and turned to Ortega, who was posing next to her.
Ortega then reassured her co-star that she didn’t have to listen to the orders, simply saying: “No, you don’t have to.”
Viewers quickly became obsessed with the clip, with one Twitter user writing: “I’d say the shouting sounded pretty rude. “That’s no way to talk to someone, let alone ask for something.”
Ortega posed with O’Hara and Ryder on the red carpet (MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)
Another responded: “Jenna you ICON!!”
The moment became a talking point when the stars of the movie sat down for an interview with Hits Radio UK, though Ortega clearly didn’t think it was that big of a deal and was surprised to learn the moment had gone viral.
Ryder recalled: “They were screaming ‘take the glasses off’, and I was like ‘uhhh’.
“And Jenna’s like, ‘no, you don’t have to do that’. And it was amazing.”
Ortega insisted her simple comment was ‘nothing to praise or applaud’, adding: “You don’t have to take your glasses off. It was hot, they looked cool.”
O’Hara admitted that she did ‘succumb’ to the photographers at one point, but she soon followed in her co-star’s footsteps and put them back on.
Jenna Ortega said her response was nothing to ‘applaud’ (TikTok/@hitsradiouk)
Ortega went on to point out that it was ‘easier’ for her to reassure Ryder than it would have been to ignore the photographers if they were shouting the same orders at her.
Ryder agreed, saying: “If they were screaming that at her? I would’ve lunged at them.”
The stars were praised for their heartwarming reaction to the situation, with one viewer commenting: “Still haven’t recovered from how wholesome these three are.”
Another added: “Winona is just so precious I love her. These 3 women are such powerhouses I can’t wait to see Beetlejuice!”
The full interview with the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice stars is set to be released on the Hits Radio YouTube channel today (September 4).
