Was Hugh Grant Being Rude to Ashley Graham at the Oscars, or Just British?

A clip of British actor Hugh Grant is going viral after he tried his hardest to be as facetious as possible in response to red carpet questions from model Ashley Graham at Sunday night’s Academy Awards.

In the clip, Graham spends an agonising minute and a half trying to draw an answer out from Grant on absolutely anything he might possibly be interested in.

He described the event as Vanity Fair, referencing the the 19th century novel by William Thackeray that is noted for its descriptions of the English elite gathering and gossiping. 

But the magazine Vanity Fair also hosts an Oscars after party – and Graham seemed to assume, some would say fairly, Grant was talking about that instead.

Then Graham asked who Grant was most excited to see win, to which he answered, “no one in particular.” When asked what he was wearing he simply said “my suit” and that his tailor made it.

Graham then made one final attempt to appeal to Grant’s ego, bringing up his recent cameo appearance in the film Glass Onion. “I love a thriller. How fun is it to shoot something like that?” she asked him. 

“Well I’m barely in it. I’m in it about three seconds,” he responded.

The internet seems divided on whether Hugh Grant was a genius or an idiot.

But perhaps something just got lost in translation between British and American cultural attitudes.