Emma Watson defends her 2014 comments about Beyoncé

Watson is hitting back at critics.
 By 
Sam Haysom
 on 
Emma Watson defends her 2014 comments about Beyoncé
Emma Watson has shared her 2014 interview about Beyoncé on Twitter. Credit: john milne/silverhub/stephen lovekin/rex/shutterstock/mashable composite

It's now been a week since Emma Watson's braless Vanity Fair photoshoot, which sparked a massive reaction and began an ongoing back-and-forth about whether or not her actions were hypocritical. And it doesn't look like the debate is going to die down anytime soon.

The most recent talking point concerns a 2014 interview for Wonderland Magazine, in which Watson discussed Beyoncé's self-titled 2013 album.

"I'm quite nervous to bring it up because I still haven't really formulated my own ideas about it," she told Tavi Gevinson, before going on to say that the videos made her feel "really conflicted".

"On the one hand she is putting herself in a category of a feminist, this very strong woman -- and she has that beautiful speech by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in one of her songs -- but then the camera, it felt very male, such a male voyeuristic experience of her and I just wondered if you had thoughts about that?"

Watson's comments resurfaced recently, and caused some to describe her as being hypocritical.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Watson took to Twitter to respond.

"This is the part of my 2014 interview with Tavi where we talked about Beyoncé," she wrote. "My words are in bold."

The second part of the interview Watson has highlighted reads as follows:

"...she does make it clear that she is performing for him. And the fact she wasn't doing it for a label, she was doing it for herself and the control that she has directing it and putting it out there, I agree is making her sexuality empowering because it is her choice.

"The second is that I would say you do get sense of, 'I can be a feminist, I can be an intellectual, I can be all these other things, but I can also be ok with my femininity and being pretty and with all these things that I thought might negate my message or negate what I am about'. That really is the most interesting thing about the album. It is so inclusive and puts feminism and femininity and female empowerment on such a broad spectrum."

Watson appears to be highlighting that although she did describe herself as feeling "conflicted", she then went on to agree that the videos were in fact empowering Beyoncé sexuality, because "it is her choice".

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Sam Haysom

Sam Haysom is the Deputy UK Editor for Mashable. He covers entertainment and online culture, and writes horror fiction in his spare time.

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