Matt LeBlanc and Emilia Clarke are friendly in the way that celebrities who have met at least once before are friendly — and who later have a live camera shoved in their face on the red carpet at the Emmys.
The E! Network thought it’d be fun to reunite the two stars after the “Game of Thrones” actress and the former “Friends” star appeared together a few months earlier on BBC’s “The Graham Norton Show” — during which time Clarke professed being a longtime fan of LeBlanc’s famed Joey character.
What ensued at the Emmys on Sunday night was an awkward comment by LeBlanc that amused some but offended many others.
When asked by E! if he is a “GoT” fan, LeBlanc replied, “Yeah, I saw the first season, and I kind of fell out of touch with it… I guess that’s when she [Clarke] started getting naked, so I need to catch up.”
Watch it here:
Twittersphere swiftly responded, calling out LeBlanc for being rather creepy.
https://twitter.com/HannaFlint/status/777644687083524096
https://twitter.com/fernandruska1/status/777646653289431041
Matt Leblanc sounded like a douchebag talking about missing Emilia Clarke nude scenes. Emilia handled it like a PRI on #ERedcarpet
— RonMwangaguhung (@RonMwangaguhung) September 18, 2016
Did you have to go with the skeevy naked mention about Emilia Clarke, LeBlanc? #Emmys
— Eric Goldman (@TheEricGoldman) September 18, 2016
https://twitter.com/krw319/status/777805170122031104
Of course, there were also people who had no problem with LeBlanc’s comment:
https://twitter.com/StartUpNick/status/777991350163677185
Cracking a joke doesn’t make a guy a misogynist, but overreacting to that joke definitely makes you an asshole. https://t.co/HrCToVKRy2
— Total Sorority Move (@totalsratmove) September 19, 2016
When it comes to Clarke’s nudity on the HBO show, she has some opinions of her own — of the more female empowerment variety.
She has publicly campaigned to balance the scales of nudity among both men and women on the show, the actress even chanting “Free the penis!” on an episode of “The Late Late Show.”
The big question now is, since the Emmy red carpet brouhaha, is Clarke still a big LeBlanc fan?