Gal Gadot admits celebrity sing-along of 'Imagine' amid COVID outbreak was 'in poor taste'

'It wasn't the right timing, and it wasn't the right thing,' said the Wonder Woman actress of the star-studded clip.

Gal Gadot is addressing that tone-deaf "Imagine" video.

In a recent interview with InStyle, the Wonder Woman actress admits that the infamous video in which she and a number of other celebrities (including Kristen Wiig, Sarah Silverman, Natalie Portman, Will Ferrell, Jimmy Fallon, Sia, and Norah Jones) sang the John Lennon classic during the early days of the pandemic was "in poor taste."

Gal Gadot
Gal Gadot attends Netflix's "Red Notice" premiere at L.A. LIVE on Nov. 03, 2021 in Los Angeles, Calif. Amy Sussman/Getty Images

"I don't take myself too seriously," said Gadot in the profile. "And with the whole 'Imagine' controversy, it's funny. I was calling Kristen [Wiig] and I was like, 'Listen, I want to do this thing.' The pandemic was in Europe and Israel before it came here [to the U.S.] in the same way. I was seeing where everything was headed. But [the video] was premature. It wasn't the right timing, and it wasn't the right thing. It was in poor taste. All pure intentions, but sometimes you don't hit the bull's-eye, right?"

The video, which Gadot posted on March 18, 2020, saw the celebrities involved—some of them real singers—each belt out a line from "Imagine." At the top of the video, the actress told her followers she had been "feeling a bit philosophical" by her sixth day of self-quarantine.

"This virus has affected the entire world," she said in the Instagram video. "Everyone. Doesn't matter who you are, where you're from. We're all [in] this together."

The three-minute clip drew immediate backlash online.

But the actress is moving past it and to prove she doesn't take herself too seriously, she burst into "Imagine" while accepting an award at the Elle Women in Hollywood awards in October.

"Might as well. They had a mic there," she said of her decision to sing. "I felt like I wanted to take the air out of it, so that [event] was a delightful opportunity to do that."

Gadot previously addressed the controversy back in October 2020, telling Vanity Fair, "Sometimes, you know, you try and do a good deed and it's just not the right good deed. I had nothing but good intentions and it came from the best place, and I just wanted to send light and love to the world."

She continued, "I started with a few friends, and then I spoke to Kristen [Wiig]. Kristen is like the mayor of Hollywood. Everyone loves her, and she brought a bunch of people to the game. But yeah, I started it, and I can only say that I meant to do something good and pure, and it didn't transcend."

Related content:

Related Articles