Jennifer Aniston has attracted criticism on social media for her recent comments about why she declined to work with an intimacy coordinator on The Morning Show.
Featuring an all-star cast of Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Billy Crudup and Julianna Margulies, the Apple TV+ series follows a fictional breakfast show in the aftermath of a prominent news anchor being hit with a series of allegations.
Speaking to Variety alongside co-star Witherspoon, Aniston was asked how she and director Mimi Leder prepared for a sex scene with series newcomer Jon Hamm.
“Having Mimi there, you’re protected,” said Aniston. “I never felt uncomfortable. Jon was such a gentleman, always - I mean every move, every cut, ‘You OK?’ It was also very choreographed. That’s the beauty of Mimi and our gorgeous editor, the music and lighting. So, you don’t prepare.”
Aniston continued: “They asked us if we wanted an intimacy coordinator. I’m from the olden days, so I was like, ‘What does that mean?’ They said, ‘Where someone asks you if you’re OK,’ and I’m like, ‘Please, this is awkward enough!’ We’re seasoned - we can figure this one out. And we had Mimi there.”
Aniston’s comments have been criticised online for downplaying the role that intimacy coordinators can play on set.
“‘Where someone asks if you’re okay’ is such a minimizing and disrespectful description of what an intimacy coordinator actually does,” wrote one commenter on X/Twitter.
Another wrote: “I feel like everyone is missing that intimacy coordinators aren’t just there for the comfort of the actors. It’s everyone on set. I’m glad she was comfortable without an intimacy coordinator but there are other people involved who should also be comfortable in their workplace.”
Some The Morning Show fans also pointed out that the debate over the role of intimacy coordinators mirrors some of the issues around consent and power that are explored in the show. One wrote: “And the irony of her saying this when the main premise of this show is how legacy media covers up sex scandals and racism in order to protect yt people [slang for white people] in power…”
In his two-star review for The Independent, TV critic Nick Hilton described the third season of The Morning Show as “another dollop of largely flavourless, textureless televisual mush”.
The show has been renewed for a fourth season, but no release date has yet been announced.
The first three seasons of The Morning Show are available to stream on Apple TV+ now.
