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Hugh Laurie has apologized after his grumpy response to a journalist who claimed every episode of House was the same went viral, sparking backlash towards the critic.
Earlier this week, Laurie penned a blistering response to a post on X/Twitter by writer Janet Murray, who pointed out that most House episodes had something of a formula. (A patient presents with symptoms, House gets it wrong and is nearly fired, before saving the day with an extremely unusual but accurate diagnosis right at the end.)
“Thanks for your critique, Janet,” Laurie wrote, in a now-deleted tweet. “We actually tried a couple of episodes where House (Hugh Laurie) (please put the brackets in the right place) gets it right first time, but they were only six minutes long. NBC weren’t happy. Then we tried some where House never gets it right and the patient dies. The audience wasn’t happy.
“One could apply your trenchant analysis to other art forms: JS Bach wrote 30 Goldberg variations on the same chord structure,” he continued on.
Murray has since written an article about the experience of being called out by Laurie, and the subsequent social media pile-on she experienced from being singled out in front of the actor’s millions of fans — something she said had resulted in some “fairly horrific trolling.”
Now, Laurie has responded again, this time to apologize for the way Murray had been treated, and to admit he had been “very slightly drunk” while using his phone keypad.
“I’m sorry if people have been having a go at you because of my tweet,” Laurie wrote. “Not at all the plan. I was very slightly drunk and already upset about something that had nothing to do with you. If it’s any comfort, I got it in the neck too. I’m a thin-skinned t**t, apparently, even though it wasn’t my skin.
“I was sticking up for the writers who I adored,” he continued. “Obviously I shouldn’t have cited Bach/Kahlo/Moore — asking for trouble — and would have done better to go for the 10,000 blues songs written around the same 12 bar chord structure. I’ve listened to most of them and will keep doing so. Because we love what we love.”
Murray’s response to Laurie’s latest response? “Thank you. ‘Having a go’ is probably an understatement but I appreciate the apology and recognise you may have been sticking up for colleagues.” An amicable resolution then — just what the doctor ordered.
Image source: Scott Humbert/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
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https://www.ign.com/articles/hugh-laurie-apologizes-and-says-hes-a-thin-skinned-tt-after-roasting-critic-who-said-every-house-episode-was-the-same
Tom Phillips
Almontather Rassoul
