Gillian Anderson released a statement clarifying a recent video that spread over social media, in which she was filmed calling a group of fans “distracting” for sitting in the front row during her performance of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” on the West End.
“The video doing the rounds is me talking with women I go back over 20 years with – so please don’t say anything negative to or about them,” Anderson wrote on social media Sunday. “We’re thrilled to be doing this show but for people in the front row, please be aware that in such an intimate venue we can all see you and sometimes, it can be a tad distracting! That’s all. All good. On with the show and love to everyone and thank you to all of those coming.”
Anderson’s post addressed a video of her from the evening before, in which she was seen speaking to a group of women outside the sohoplace theater’s stage door, where it is commonplace for stars to interact with fans.
In the footage, Anderson advises the group, not seen on camera, that “you cannot sit in the front row, it’s so distracting” while signing autographs. She then laughed and said, “You can’t come 20 times and sit in the front row.”
Anderson is currently starring in the revival of Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” alongside Billy Crudup, Josh Dylan and Phoebe Horn at sohoplace in London’s West End. The production opened on Sept. 21 and will run through Dec. 19.
