Gwyneth Paltrow has found a rather unusual way to respond to the backlash over a reported dinner for OpenAI boss Sam Altman. Instead of giving a serious explanation, the actress and Goop founder appeared to lean into the chaos, sharing a series of bizarre invitation mock-ups featuring fictional characters from Shrek to Jessica Rabbit.
But while Paltrow clearly wanted to make fun of the situation, her posts did not exactly clear up the biggest question surrounding the original invitation: Was the dinner actually happening?
Gwyneth Paltrow Turns Dinner Controversy Into a Joke
The drama began after journalist Matthew Belloni reported in his Puck newsletter that Paltrow was set to host a private, 'off-the-record' al fresco dinner at her Hamptons home in honour of Sam Altman.
Belloni shared what appeared to be a formal invitation for the event, and the image quickly made its way across social media. The idea of Paltrow hosting the OpenAI CEO was enough to send critics into a frenzy.
Some social media users branded the actress 'tone-deaf,' while comedian and activist Matt Bernstein criticised the actress's relationship with the AI industry. OpenAI, of course, is the company behind ChatGPT.
Instead simply denying the report, Paltrow joined in with the joke.
This week, she shared her own versions of the invitation on Instagram. Paltrow changed the guest of honour each time — mentioning M3GAN, Samantha Jones, Shrek, Jessica Rabbit and finally Chanty Beluga.
Her caption added another layer of silliness: 'We're serving swordfish burritos, cheddar foam lattes on request.'
The Bizarre Shrek and Jessica Rabbit Invites
The parody invitations appeared to turn the original controversy into an elaborate joke.
One version named Shrek as the guest of honour, while another featured Jessica Rabbit. Samantha Jones, the fictional Sex and the City character, also received her own invitation, as did M3GAN, the AI doll from the horror film of the same name.
The final post referenced Chanty Beluga, an internet character created by comedian Courtney O'Donnell who has gone viral in recent weeks.
The increasingly ridiculous names made it fairly clear that Paltrow was poking fun at the invitation story and the attention it received.
What she did not do, however, was directly say that the original dinner report was false.
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Her Response Sparks Even More Backlash
For many people online, Paltrow's response only appeared to add to the backlash surrounding the controversy. Instead of calming the criticism, her parody invitations seemed to convince some commenters that she was making fun of the people who had objected to the dinner in the first place.
The reaction was mostly blunt. One person wrote: 'She's so unfunny.' Another asked: 'Am I dumb, what's the joke here?'
Someone else summed up their reaction even more harshly: 'The joke is Gwyneth Paltrow.'
Others felt the actress was missing the point entirely. 'She really thinks we're laughing with her and not at her,' one commenter wrote, suggesting that the joke had landed very differently from how Paltrow may have intended.
Some users interpreted the posts as Paltrow deliberately mocking her critics. 'Oh I think she's mocking people for taking issue with her shenanigans. She too arrogant to bother covering tracks,' one person wrote.
The comments showed that, whatever Paltrow intended, plenty of people online did not appreciate the response. For them, the parody did not make the controversy disappear. It simply gave the criticism a new target.
