In what may well be one of the wildest celebrity stories of the year, the legitimacy of an interview EgyptAir claims Drew Barrymore allegedly conducted with Horus magazine, the airline’s in-flight magazine, is being called into question after quotes from the interview that didn’t sound like Barrymore whatsoever surfaced on the internet. As the story has developed, it’s become clear that Barrymore didn’t actually participate in the viral interview, but honestly, the details here need to be read to be believed. Let’s start at the beginning.
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As reported by Bustle, suspicious quotes included Barrymore responding to a question about the “status of women today” with this: “I cannot deny that women made a great achievement over past century; there is significant progress recorded by people who study women status throughout history.”
The quote itself is a bit stiff and formal, but it’s also nothing like what we’ve read or heard from Barrymore in the past, like when she spoke very casually on The Ellen DeGeneres Show about the perils of online dating. The alleged quotes from Barrymore (and the text that accompanied the questionable interview) were curious enough to prompt writer, political analyst and EgyptAir passenger Adam Baron to take photos of the spread, captioning his tweet with: “This interview with Drew Barrymore in the Egypt Air in-flight magazine is, umm, surreal.”
https://twitter.com/adammbaron/status/1047131624704528384/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1047131624704528384&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bustle.com%2Fp%2Fis-drew-barrymores-viral-airline-magazine-interview-real-the-whole-situation-is-pretty-wild-12142511Aside from the alleged quotes from Barrymore, the text of the article was also problematic. It was riddled with grammatical errors, typos and some very presumptive — and downright sexist — statements, including this shocking opening paragraph (which you can also see pictured in Baron’s tweet above): “Despite being unstable in her relationships most of her life, despite the several unsuccessful marriages and despite the busy life of stardom that dominated her life for several years; the beautiful American Hollywood actress Drew Barrymore has recently decided to temporary [sic] take an unlimited vacation to play her most crucial role as a mother.”
Of course, it didn’t take Twitter users, many of whom implored Barrymore to sue, long to respond.
So @EGYPTAIR made up a fake interview with Drew Barrymore, and wrote these poorly written nuggets of sexism to argue that women shouldn’t have so many rights. I hope she sues you. Also, hire a proofreader. pic.twitter.com/jwQKa08yWn
— Alex (@alexinlaw) October 3, 2018
I've been collecting EgyptAir's magazine, Horus, for years with the intention of writing something condemning it as embarrassingly terrible from content to grammar but I think this reportedly fake Barrymore interview will save me the trouble of having to https://t.co/2NHfxHR6vU
— Timothy E Kaldas (@tekaldas) October 3, 2018
Your article is a complete fabrication. Your a liar. I hope Drew Barrymore sues you and your airline for millions. You might get away with libel like that in your backwards country but Americans like litigation a lot.
— ryguy (@ryguy21663563) October 4, 2018
Barrymore’s reps have since issued a response, telling HuffPost that the actor “did not participate” in the interview and that her team is “working with the airline PR team.”
A source who is reportedly close to Barrymore spoke to People magazine, claiming, “This truly is an innocent translation job that somehow made it through the channels” but provided no comment on whether Barrymore actually did an interview with Horus magazine recently or any similar context around this issue.
Additionally, Aida Takla O’Reilly, the former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the woman who allegedly conducted the interview allegedly tweeted on Wednesday that she did interview Barrymore but that EgyptAir was “authorized to edit the final version of the interviews.”
As a member of the HFPA since 1956, I have been a correspondent for many publications for decades
I interviewed celebrities published in Egypt Air's official magazine; Horus, as well as Nisfdunia magazine, which is one of the publications of Al Ahram.(continued)@EGYPTAIR— Aida (@Aidatakla1) October 3, 2018
It is noted that the previously mentioned publications are authorized to edit the final version of the interviews, according to adjustments required by the magazines in regards to size of the article without altering the core of the content… (continued) @EGYPTAIR
— Aida (@Aidatakla1) October 3, 2018
This doesn't negate the fact that the interview with Drew Barrimoor which took place in New York is genuine &far from fake.
As far as Drew we interviewed her several times I saw her grow up before my eyes she is charming and talented.@EGYPTAIR— Aida (@Aidatakla1) October 3, 2018
Then again, it seems the confusion and controversy around this isn’t settled with O’Reilly’s tweets since the account the tweets were written on isn’t verified, the spelling of Takla’s name on Twitter differs from the spelling of her name in the Horus article and Barrymore’s name is also misspelled.
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At this point, we have no idea what to believe, but goodness knows we hope this worrisome issue gets settled sooner rather than later.
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