Jennifer Lawrence has responded to claims she was "rude" to Joanna Lumleyafter she made an off-the-cuff comment to the BAFTAs host during the ceremony on Sunday night. Joanna, 71, had introduced the Hunger Games star as "the hottest actress on the planet", to which an embarrassed Jennifer remarked: "That was a bit much, but thank you Joanna. Responding to the criticism the following day, the Oscar-winning beauty claimed that it was an "inside joke", revealing that the pair had chatted backstage before she walked out to present the Outstanding British Film award.
© Photo: Getty ImagesJennifer Lawrence has hit back at 'rude behaviour' claims
"Everybody thought that I was being rude," Jennifer told Ronan Keating on the Magic Radio Breakfast show. "But to be fair, I couldn't have just walked out after she was like, 'biggest movie star in the world!!' I'd just walked out and gone 'thank you Joanna'. It would have been like, 'so you agree? You think you're really pretty!'" Jennifer revealed that they shared a joke just moments before about how Joanna could introduce her to the audience.
BAFTAs 2018: Complete winners list
"It was an inside joke," the actress confessed. "She went on and said all these really nice things about me and then when I got up to the podium, I was like, 'that was a bit much,' after I just spent all backstage telling her how to be really nice to me. I wasn’t being rude, it was an inside joke'" The 27-year-old took to the stage at London's Royal Albert Hall to present the award for Outstanding British Film, which was won by Martin McDonagh's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Following her appearance onstage, Jennifer was accused of being discourteous by viewers.
