The wacky goth dance scene has become one of the most iconic things from Netflix’s Wednesday series. Now, however, the Wednesday television show is receiving backlash now that Jenna Ortega revealed she had COVID while filming the sequence.
She revealed as much in an interview with NME after noting she choreographed the dance herself. Shockingly, however, she added that “it was awful to film” given that it was her “first day with COVID.”
As Ortega began to explain:
“I choreographed that myself!” Ortega started. “I’m not a dancer and I’m sure that’s obvious. 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 further discussed the COVID symptoms which bothered her while filming for Wednesday:
“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.”
With that said, the production company behind Wednesday, MGM, confirmed that “strict COVID protocols were followed and once the positive test was confirmed production removed Jenna from set.”
Additionally, Jenna Ortega felt she could’ve done even better if she had the extra time:
“I asked to redo it but we didn’t have time,” she added. “I think I probably could have done it a bit better…”
In any case, some fans were not happy to hear about this. As you can see below, Wednesday is now facing backlash on social media for having allowed Jenna Ortega to film her dance scene in a crowd while infected with COVID:
this is a bad thing right? we all agree that this is not some “persevering through hardship” moment, its a why the fuck didn’t she get sent home, she could get horrendously sick or infect others kinda moment pic.twitter.com/dBlwOf2ulr
— Lily Simpson is Pronouns? (@LilySimpson1312) December 3, 2022
jenna ortega filming a whole scene while waiting for her covid test results AND with obvious symptoms isn’t “professional”, it’s just completely irresponsible
— shir (@cancion_il) December 3, 2022
I’m sorry, so they filmed one of the most pivotal scenes in the show WHILE THEY WAITED ON A POSITIVE COVID TEST???? pic.twitter.com/2B2baI60nB
— Quinton Reviews (@Q_Review) December 3, 2022
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?
— Lola Méndez (@lolaannamendez) November 29, 2022
America has an obsession with grind culture and always sees ppl risking their lives and other for the sake of a job as “inspirational”
— piss (@stoIenteeth) December 4, 2022
According to her, she was in-waiting for the results when they shot that take, when the results came in she was sent home, but tbh I don’t understand why she didn’t stay home waiting for the result rather than risk contaminating people??
— Artémis | FREE PALESTINE (@MrsArtemis_) December 3, 2022
In addition to Jenna Ortega as the titular character, the cast of Wednesday includes Gwendoline Christie, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzmán, Isaac Ordonez, Riki Lindhome, Jamie McShane, Fred Armisen, and Christina Ricci.
Fans can currently view the entire first season of Wednesday on Netflix. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for additional updates on the series as we have them.