Joey King Responded To Jacob Elordi's Kissing Booth Criticism
He called the films “ridiculous.”
Joey King is defending The Kissing Booth series. On Dec. 2, The Act star addressed Jacob Elordi’s recent criticism of the movies — and despite her co-star’s commentary, King still said she had “a great time” working on the films. ICYMI, back in November, the Priscilla actor called The Kissing Booth “ridiculous,” and King isn’t the only one who took issue with his comments.
“I think it’s unfortunate anyone would feel that way,” King told Variety on Dec. 2. “I had a great time making those movies no matter what anyone says.”
Her response was in reference to Elordi’s Nov. 13 cover story with GQ, in which he was critical of The Kissing Booth films. “I didn’t want to make those movies before I made those movies,” the actor said. “Those movies are ridiculous. They’re not universal. They’re an escape.”
At the time, Elordi also addressed people who labeled his attitude as “pretentious.” He told GQ, “How is caring about your output pretentious? But not caring, and knowingly feeding people sh*t, knowing that you’re making money off of people’s time, which is literally the most valuable thing that they have. How is that the cool thing?”
King wasn’t the only Kissing Booth co-star who didn’t love Elordi’s comments. At the GQ Men of the Year party on Nov. 17, Taylor Zakhar Perez told Variety, “I thought it was a shame because to my knowledge, everybody else had such a wonderful experience.”
“It’s a shame that was his experience on the set. Especially when those movies came out, it was a time when we really needed something like that,” Perez, who starred in Red, White & Royal Blue, continued. “I know from our fan interactions, getting stopped everywhere I go, what Kissing Booth means to people and what it brought them during such a dark time. I guess the silver lining is he still made people laugh and feel good.”
It wasn’t just Kissing Booth actors who responded to Elordi’s comments. Fans of the series on TikTok didn’t seem to love his words, either. After a video explaining his quotes went viral, the comments section was full of people questioning his words. “Isn’t that the movie that made him,” one wrote. Another questioned, “Then why did he do them 🙄.”
Elordi also addressed his own comments at the Men of the Year Awards, saying that none of his co-stars reached out to him directly about his words. “I’m incredibly grateful to everybody in it,” he added.
Elordi’s GQ interview wasn’t the first time he’s vented about the series. “The Kissing Booth was the first film I ever made, it was sort of my ticket to Hollywood so I was really grateful for that,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in June 2019 before comparing his Kissing Booth character Noah Flynn to his Euphoria character Nate Jacobs.
“It’s almost like righting my wrongs a little bit, too, because the character in The Kissing Booth is awful and it’s never really explained,” Elordi added at the time. “He’s kind of idolized and made into a hero, so I suppose this show is showing why.”
Still, Elordi has never directly criticized his actual experience on set. In July 2020, he addressed fans’ comments about his “miserable” expression throughout the second film. He told Access Hollywood on July 24, “I have a resting miserable face,” Elordi said. “But I wasn’t miserable. Quote that, please. I had a blast.”
