Jim Carrey Makes Creepy Joke About Margot Robbie

Photo: Getty Images

Margot Robbie was a guest on The Graham Norton Show on Friday night, and had to endure a pretty grim "joke" from Jim Carrey.

Viewers noted that Robbie, who was promoting Birds of Prey, the superhero movie she stars in, produced and helped to conceive, looked uncomfortable as Carrey suggested that her success was based on her appearance rather than talent.

"You're really something, Margot Robbie,” Carrey said as he looked at the actress. "It's incredible you got as far as you have with your obvious physical disadvantages. That's pure talent there – just a talent override."

Jim Carrey: You’re really something, Margot Robbie.
It’s incredible you got as far as you have with your obvious physical disadvantages. That’s pure talent there. Direct object insult.
I have never been to Australia: indirect. Grammar lessons on #GrahamNortonShow #TheGNShow pic.twitter.com/pfBioINpj5
— Seid Goro (@SeidGoro) February 1, 2020

On Twitter, viewers called out Carrey for being "condescending" and "creepy" about the actress, who has two Oscar nominations and five BAFTA nominations to her name.

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They also praised her for handling the situation with grace and restraint.

gross on graham norton, jim carrey making margot robbie super uncomfortable telling her he's impressed she's made it so far despite "obvious physical disadvantages" & sarcastically saying it's clearly "all talent". part letch part neg part condescending from man lit twice her age
— Sarah Carson (@carsonsarah) February 1, 2020

Jim Carrey completely step out of line with Margot Robbie. I’ve never found him funny. Creepy little character #GrahamNortonShow
— LozInTranslation (@LozNTranslation) February 1, 2020

@TheGNShow don’t put creepy #jimcarrey on again! Poor #MargotRobbie! Jealous Jim! Margot is a talented, intelligent woman and her beauty has nothing to do with her success! Shameful moment! I cringed but Margot handled the idiot with grace and poise!
— Jacqueline Allen (@jackieallen1978) February 1, 2020

How creeped out is Margot Robbie by Jim Carrey? #TheGNShow
— Julie Egan (@mcdougal25) January 31, 2020

Fuck Jim Carrey. I feel so bad for Margot having to sit there and act like everything is fine. Margot works so damn hard, just to be told her looks got her to where she is! pic.twitter.com/8SxehUN46P
— ✨Baylor✨ (@QueenxxMC) February 1, 2020

Somewhat inevitably, others waved off Carey's comments as harmless "banter", but would Carrey have felt emboldened to make the same kind of joke if he'd been sitting next to a male actor – Brad Pitt, for example?

It's especially disappointing because Robbie has endured this kind of sexist and reductive treatment from men in the entertainment industry before. In 2016, a Vanity Fair profile of the actress was heavily criticised for including such creepy and off-colour observations as: "She is tall but only with the help of certain shoes. She can be sexy and composed even while naked but only in character."

She's also spoken candidly about working hard to take control of her career, saying she decided to produce her 2017 movie I, Tonya – for which she later earned an Oscar nomination – so she could show the full extent of her acting range.

"I don't think anyone would have given me this role unless I had gone after it, and I wasn't prepared to wait for ten years for someone to happen to offer me a role like this," she told Digital Spy.

For her role in this year's Bombshell, for which she earned her second Oscar nomination, Robbie even went undercover on Conservative Twitter to understand the mindset of her character, a millennial Conservative woman.

Robbie is nominated for two prizes at the BAFTA Film Awards on Sunday night, and stars in Birds of Prey, one of this year's most eagerly anticipated blockbusters, which opens on 7th February.