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Rose McGowan slams Natalie Portman's 'snubbed female directors' outfit for the Oscars

Natalie Portman made a statement with her Oscars outfit – a specially made Dior cape embroidered with the names of the female directors who were snubbed this year.

Some praised her for the move – coupling high-end couture with movie-making politics – but others were rather less enamoured.

Rose McGowan has slated the actress in a withering post on Facebook, calling her “type of activism deeply offensive to those of us who actually do the work”.

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“I’m not writing this out of bitterness, I am writing out of disgust. I just want her and other actresses to walk the walk,” McGowan wrote.

Natalie Portman arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Natalie Portman (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

“What is it with actresses of your ilk? You ‘A-listers’ could change the world if you’d take a stand instead of being the problem. Yes, you, Natalie. You are the problem. Lip service is the problem. Fake support of other women is the problem.”

NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, JANUARY 6, 2020: Rose McGowen leaves a press conference during Harvey Weinstein's first day in court. According to CNN Mr. Weinstein was accused by more than eighty women of sexual abuse ranging from harassment to rape. He is charged with predatory sexual assault, criminal sexual act, first-degree rape and third-degree rape.- PHOTOGRAPH BY John Lamparski / Echoes Wire/ Barcroft Media (Photo credit should read John Lamparski / Echoes Wire / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)
Rose McGowen leaves a press conference during Harvey Weinstein's first day in court. (John Lamparski/Echoes Wire/Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

She went on: “I was at a Women in Film event that you spoke at once, Natalie. You reeled off depressing statistics and then we all went back to our salads. I quickly realised you and the other women speakers (and that joke of an organisation) are just... frauds. You say nothing, you do nothing.

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“Until you and your fellow actresses get real, do us all a favour and hang up your embroidered activist cloak, it doesn’t hang right.”

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 09: Natalie Portman arrives at the 92nd Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood and Highland on February 09, 2020 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage)
(Steve Granitz/WireImage)

The punishing rebuke was echoed by others on social media.

Portman has indeed used just one female director over eight projects made by her production company Handsomecharlie Films – and that was herself, on A Tale Of Love And Darkness.

Director Lynne Ramsay was in line to make Handsomecharlie's Jane Got A Gun in 2015 but exited the production, with Gavin O'Connor taking over.

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Portman has only worked with a handful of female directors on feature films, though she has worked with other female directors on shorts, as well Dior adverts with Sofia Coppola.