Can someone please tell Jim Carrey his 'jokes' about Margot Robbie are not funny?

'It's incredible you got as far as you have with your obvious physical disadvantages,' the actor said on an episode of 'The Graham Norton Show'

Margot Robbie grimaced through Jim Carrey's awkward comments. YouTube
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At 29, Margot Robbie has, let's be honest, achieved more than most of us will in a lifetime. She has received two Oscar nominations, five Bafta nods, has a 20-strong filmography under her belt and has worked as a producer on five of those titles.

Coming from someone born in the same year as Robbie, I feel the list is enough to leave one feeling well and truly unaccomplished. But, according to Jim Carrey, I shouldn't feel too bad, as she only got to where she is today because of the way she looks.

Why are we still shuffling awkwardly through such comments and letting them fall by the wayside, unchallenged?

That was the sexist, and frankly creepy, insinuation in the comments the actor made to Robbie when the pair appeared on British talk show The Graham Norton Show together last week.  

“You’re amazing and I’m so excited for you,” Carrey said as he turned to the actress, who was sat next to him on the couch. “It’s incredible you got as far as you have with your obvious physical disadvantages.” Not satisfied at leaving it there, he continued: “That’s pure talent there – just a talent override.” Just in case we missed his “joke” the first time. We get it Jim, ha ha.

Robbie laughed uncomfortably, through a well-held grimace, as did the other guests. But, in 2020, why are we still shuffling awkwardly through such comments and letting them fall by the wayside, unchallenged?  

Had Robbie’s former co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio or Brad Pitt also been on that couch, would Carrey have made those same comments to them? I’m going to go out on a limb and say no.

Naturally, people were quick to pick up on the comments and call Carrey out on them across social media. “Margot is a talented, intelligent woman and her beauty has nothing to do with her success,” wrote one Twitter user. “Shameful moment. I cringed, but Margot handled the idiot with grace and poise!”

Inevitably, though, there were some who were quick to wave off his comments as nothing more than harmless banter. "Jim Carrey is a comedian at his core, he was paying her a compliment … and she got it, and so did everyone else in the moment," said one user.

Whether or not Carrey's comments were said in jest, they cut too close to the bone in a post-#MeToo world. Robbie has just been one of the leads in Bombshell, a whole movie about sexual harassment in the workplace, and her production company, LuckyChap Entertainment, was set up to tell women's stories, and support females working behind the scenes.

For her to have to smile her way through these kind of comments and assumptions underpins exactly why movies like Bombshell need to be made, and why companies such as LuckyChap need to exist.

Carrey has long been known as the movie industry’s animated funnyman, but it’s 2020. Someone needs to tell him it’s time to come up with a new joke.