Here's Why Everyone's Mad at Rosie O'Donnell Right Now
It all started when she ran into Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas at a restuarant.
Rosie O'Donnell is issuing some apologies, and not all of them have been well-received. On Sunday, the TV host posted a TikTok video in which she told a story about running into actor Priyanka Chopra and singer Nick Jonas at a restaurant and going over to say hello. But, while she knows who Jonas is, she didn't know that his wife is an actor. Instead, because of her name, O'Donnell assumed that she was the daughter of writer Deepak Chopra. As O'Donnell tells it, this led to an uncomfortable moment in which Chopra stood up for herself and O'Donnell felt embarrassed.
But, the story doesn't end there. While O'Donnell apologized for her mistake, the manner in which she apologized didn't go over well with some TikTok users. Read on to find out why the comedian had to say sorry all over again.
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O'Donnell described how the interaction went down.
In the first TikTok video about the incident, O'Donnell explained that she approached Jonas and Chopra when she saw them at a restaurant in Malibu, California.
"I just embarrassed my son and his girlfriend, Theresa, and Fran Drescher. Because seated next to us in Malibu at Nobu was Nick Jonas and his wife, someone Chopra, which I always assumed was Deepak Chopra's daughter. So, when I said, 'Hi, Nick Jonas. You were great in Kingdom' and 'Hi, I know your dad.' She goes, 'You do? Who's my dad?' And I'm like, 'Deepak.' She's like, 'No, and Chopra is a common name.'" O'Donnell added, "I felt so embarrassed."
O'Donnell then asked whether she's the only one who thought Chopra was Deepak Chopra's daughter. She concluded, "So, Nick Jonas, I apologize, and to the Chopra wife, I apologize, too."
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Her apology didn't go over well.
In the comments on O'Donnell's TikTok many people took issue with the fact that while she was apologizing for being confused about who Chopra was, she still hadn't learnt her name.
"'Someone Chopra' and 'the Chopra wife' sound worse to me than the mistake. I mean, the device for making TikToks also has google," wrote one commenter. Another TikTok user said, "Do u assume all the white Smiths are related? Also, the fact that u said 'Chopra wife' & 'someone chopra' w/o looking up her name says a lot more."
Someone else said, "Maybe learn her name if you're going to apologize." One user added, "You should have at least learned her name for this video…"
When another commenter wrote, "She was on a talk show (Ellen I think?) saying how that's her pet peeve that everyone thinks they're related," O'Donnell responded, "oh crap."
She apologized again.
In a second video, posted on Monday, O'Donnell addressed the comments she received. First, she addressed the commenters who said they thought Chopra's response to O'Donnell wasn't appropriate. "People thought that she was rude," O'Donnell said. "She wasn't rude. It was just awkward. I mean, I'm sure she gets sick of that. I'm sure I'm not the only one."
O'Donnell then explained that she now knows who Chopra is. "She's apparently a very well-known actress and more famous than [Jonas], people were saying, so I'm sure it felt weird to her to begin with. And, anyway, Priyanka, is her name. Priyanka, I hope I'm pronouncing that right. And I just want to apologize to her and to everyone who thought that it was really inappropriate of me. Sorry. Sometimes I [expletive] up."
In addition to being famous in the U.S., Chopra is one of the highest-paid actors Indian actors of all time, as well as a model and former Miss World.
Chopra has said that non-Indians often make the same assumption about her.
In a video for Wired in 2019, Chopra answered commonly searched questions about her, and one of them was "Is Priyanka Chopra related to Deepak Chopra?" She responded, "No. That is a question that I get very often, but Chopra is like Smith in India. Very, very common. So, no, we don't know each other at all."
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