Everyone had strong opinions about Hugh Grant’s moment on the Oscar red carpet with Ashley Graham, one of ABC’s red carpet hosts. Ashley, a model/personality, was one of like five people representing ABC on various points of the red carpet. Clearly, Oscar producers/ABC producers were shuttling celebrities to various interview points, especially as ABC has the rights to sole live-carpet coverage for the hour before the Oscars (E! can’t do interviews live in that hour). As I watched Ashley try to interview a clearly peeved Hugh Grant, I admired her breeziness at simply getting him off her podium in a hurry. Here’s the clip again:
On Twitter, this was trending for hours into the Oscars telecast. People were still obsessed with this interaction. Now that we’re more than 24 hours removed from it, I’m more willing to give them both some grace – yes, Grant should have just said no to red carpet interviews, but his dry English wit simply didn’t translate in this forum. For her part, Ashley did her job and she has nothing to be ashamed of – she was gracious in the way she handled a curmudgeon, the end. Anyway, TMZ caught up with Ashley after the Oscars:
Ashley Graham rolled with the punches during her awkward Oscars exchange with Hugh Grant, and she’s carrying on with just as much grace afterward … take a look for yourself.
We got the model-turned-interviewer at LAX Monday morning, a day after her cringeworthy moment with the famed British actor … who did not provide any easy answers on the red carpet for the relatively standard softball questions AG was lobbing his way.
Upon reflection, Ashley doesn’t seem too bent out of shape … telling our photog she simply followed some advice that had been passed down to her — namely, kindness always wins. In other words, she took the high road … and you could argue Hugh didn’t. Either way, Ashley’s fine with how things played out — she made her decisions, and he made his.
As our cameraman pointed out — and Ashley agreed — you can’t control how someone else is going to react. All you can do is your job and try to get some engagement — and she certainly attempted … on that, everyone seems to agree.
It’s so funny that people are trying to make this into some kind of beef? I feel sorry for a lot of these red carpet interviewers – it’s such a hectic environment and I feel like producers are always screaming into their earwigs. Anyway, I’m still on Team Ashley. It was just a funny thing, realizing in real time that Ashley Graham and Hugh Grant have zero chemistry together and they hate each other.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Ashley Graham arrives on the red carpet of the 95th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 12, 2023.,Image: 762304395, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: sb / Avalon 
Ashley Graham arrives on the red carpet of The 95th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 12, 2023.,Image: 762304491, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: TE / Avalon
Andie MacDowell and Hugh Grant backstage during the live ABC telecast of the 95th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 12, 2023.,Image: 762336609, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: ST / Avalon 
Andie MacDowell and Hugh Grant present the Oscar® for Production Design during the live ABC telecast of the 95th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 12, 2023.,Image: 762339919, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: ST / Avalon 
Hugh Grant (R) and guest arrive on the red carpet of the 95th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 12, 2023.,Image: 762342141, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: sb / AvalonncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pLHLnpmirJOdxm%2BvzqZmcWhoaYJze8Csn6WdqZS0s63HmqSYn6KWsKq71Kyjspejnb%2B2s8aem5inlpusqbHRmKmenI%2BYrrO8xK2Wm52Vm6y4tdOhlqGtl52sqL7Ap6to