Jamie Dornan Says Kristin Wiig Apologized To Him For ‘Imagine’ Video After Backlash

Actor Jamie Dornan opened up about his involvement with the now-viral “Imagine” video he participated in with other celebrities, saying that he was invited by Kristen Wiig to do it and that the video’s organizer, actor Gal Gadot, “was trying to do a good and kind thing and just got nailed for it.”

The actor spoke on the “Tea With Me” podcast earlier this week and got candid about the video of himself, Gadot, Wiig, Natalie Portman, Zoe Kravitz, and other celebrities that was ill-received by many during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Listen, it’s a funny thing. Not being on social media, I wasn’t really that aware of the negative reaction to it, but I was made aware quite quickly by some mates,” said Dornan, while laughing, in response to how he got involved in the video. “It was early on in the lockdown process. Gal, who organized it, she organized it with Kristen Wiig.”

Dornan explained that he met Wiig while working on a movie slated for release this summer and that they “got on brilliantly.”

He added that because he “would do anything for her,” when she texted him asking to participate in a “thing to try to lift people’s spirits,” he agreed.

After the video was released, it was met with a lot of backlash from people arguing that these celebrities would have been more helpful to those suffering in the pandemic if they had just donated some money instead.

The “Fifty Shades of Grey” star later said that Wiig texted him to apologize for asking him to be involved and that his friends had even ribbed on him a bit for it, calling him a “pompous, self-righteous, wanker actor.”

Dornan, to his credit, appears somewhat self-aware about the ordeal, telling the podcast’s host: “I’ll tell you what the problem was. I literally did mine in the toilet of my house … Quite clearly, people had escaped to their second home. There’s too much acreage in the background, too many beautiful trees swinging, clearly by an ocean, that sort of craic. I was quite aware of that whenever I was doing it, [I just tried] to make it normal.”

He also defended Gadot’s idea and reasoning for the video, calling her “a very well-known, successful, beautiful person, who, I’ve never met, but everyone I know says she’s lovely and she’s all about being good and kind.” He said he believes “she was trying to do a good and kind thing and just got nailed for it.”

“I just got dragged along with it, but listen, what are we going to do?” said Dornan.

Celebrities have come out in droves on social media to talk about the pandemic, either by showing words of support to everyone impacted, sharing their stories, and/or donating money to efforts to combat the virus.

Much like how the “Imagine” video was received, other celebrities have missed the mark on how to properly weigh into the public conversation on the disease. There was music and movie producer David Geffen’s Instagram post of how he was self-isolating on a yacht and Madonna’s video of herself bathing in rose petals and calling coronavirus “the great equalizer.”

All told, celebrities should just learn one simple thing from all of this: You don’t have to post anything. Ever.