Netflix
"I felt like I'd been hit by a car and that a little goblin had been let loose in my throat and was scratching the walls of my esophagus," Ortega recalled of filming the viral scene while sick.
It goes without saying that the Netflix series "Wednesday" has been a huge hit for the streamer, however, many fans currently aren't happy with the show following star Jenna Ortega's recent revelation.
In an interview with NME, the 20-year-old actress -- who plays the titular role -- revealed that she filmed "Wednesday's" now-iconic dance scene while she was sick with COVID-19.
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View Story"I choreographed that myself! I'm not a dancer and I'm sure that's obvious," she recalled of the scene, which has gone viral, especially on TikTok. "I'd gotten the song [The Cramps' 1981 single ‘Goo Goo Muck’] about a week before and I just pulled from whatever I could… it's crazy because it was my first day with COVID so it was awful to film."
She continued, "Yeah, I woke up and -- it’s weird, I never get sick and when I do it's not very bad -- I had the body aches. I felt like I'd been hit by a car and that a little goblin had been let loose in my throat and was scratching the walls of my esophagus. They were giving me medicine between takes because we were waiting on the positive result."
"I asked to redo it but we didn’t have time," Ortega added. "I think I probably could have done it a bit better…"
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View StoryThe show's production company, MGM, claimed to NME through email that "strict COVID protocols were followed and once the positive test was confirmed production removed Jenna from set."
However, despite this, many fans took issue with the fact that Ortega still was permitted to not only film the scene, but let alone be on set while she was experiencing COVID-like symptoms.
"this is a bad thing right? we all agree that this is not some 'persevering through hardship" moment, its a why the f--- didn't she get sent home, she could get horrendously sick or infect others kinda moment," a user tweeted, adding in another post, "like the details are that she was waiting for a test while filming and it did come back positive but SHE SHOULD HAVE STILL ISOLATED WHILE WAITING FOR A TEST, Tim Burtons f---ing artistic vision aint worth dead people."
Another user added, "Disappointed to learn that Jenna Ortega had COVID symptoms on set but was still allowed to film the Wednesday dance scene while she waited for her positive test result. I wonder how many people got sick? And how many people those people got sick?"
Meanwhile, another critic wrote, "Yes, this is a very bad thing. It was dangerous, unethical, and extremely selfish thing to do, both on her part, and on the part of the directors and producers. There's absolutely no positive way to spin an actress knowingly exposing hundreds of cast members and crew to COVID."
