Jason Bateman responds to criticism after asking Charli XCX why she doesn't want kids
Kit Roberts
Featured Image Credit: Joe Maher/Getty Images/Karwai Tang/WireImage via Getty Images
Jason Bateman has responded to criticism for his remarks over Charli XCX saying she doesn't want children.
The actor was slammed as 'gross' after he questioned Charli XCX on his celebrity podcast SmartLess about if she wanted to have children.
Charli XCX appeared on the show to promote her album, the soundtrack for Emerald Fennell's film "Wuthering Heights", as well as a mockumentary film about the Brat world tour.
Bateman, 57, didn't appear to be familiar with the work of Charli XCX, whose real name is Charlotte Aitchison, confessing that the 'brat' phenomenon that she has become famous for has passed him by.
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But this also stretched to her personal life, including her marriage to drummer from The 1975, George Daniel and her desire to not have children.
When Bateman questioned her about wanting kids Charli replied that she didn't, and he suggested that she might change her mind if she met the right person, like his own wife had done after they met.
Of course, Charli has made her feelings on the matter of having children very clear, including featuring it in her music.
While obviously very awkward the exchange itself was polite, and Bateman tried to break the tension by joking that he needed to 'pick up a newspaper', but was met with a furious backlash online by Charli's fans.
One wrote: "Saying 'maybe you’ll change your mind when you get married…' is GROSS."
Meanwhile another posted: "This just p*ssed me off... pressuring her without even knowing s**t about her," though others pointed out that the hosts' unfamiliarity with their guests is part of the podcast's theme.
Now, Bateman has responded to the backlash in The Hollywood Reporter.
He said: "We were having a great conversation about her life growing up as an only child. It seemed like a very natural follow-up to that. That’s all it was.
"I don’t really have much [else] to say about it, except that it is always interesting and valuable and educational to hear people’s thoughts, reactions and feelings to anything I say or do.”
The actor also opened up about his own family life and enjoying raising his children, saying he's a 'softie'.
“I like moving the Elf on the Shelf every day," he revealed. "In fact, we’ve got a new little thing, a troll, that I move around now in the offseason. But I love it all: the slippers, the fireplace, the nesting."