Have you gotten over Angelina Jolie’s Leg of Doom yet? I hope so. But maybe Angelina doesn’t want you to forget The Leg. Maybe The Leg wants to haunt you. Maybe The Leg wants to control you. Maybe The Leg is truly The Villainess Jolie, and has been the whole time. Whatever. To recap, during the Oscars, Angelina Jolie simply would NOT put her leg away. She was wearing a black velvet Versace gown that had a high slit, and I honestly thought at the time (and I still think) that she simply trying to “work” the gown.

When Angelina got on stage to announce the winners of the Screeplay awards, she once again posed with her leg out, contorting her body playfully (once again, that’s what I thought, and I still think that). When the winners of Best Adapted Screenplay came to collect their trophies, The Descendants’ scribe Jim Rash thrust out his leg too, doing a funny homage to Angelina’s pose. Once again, “funny” in my mind. To other people, Jim Rash was obviously “slamming” and “mocking” Angelina, because of heroin, brother-kissing and husband-stealing, obvs. The Leg became a “thing” and people used words like “controversy” and “Holocaust” to describe the incident. Seriously. In any case, The Leg is now speaking up for itself. Here’s what Angelina has to say about the incident:

“I honestly didn’t pay attention to it. You know what I mean? I don’t watch those TV shows and if I go online and see something about myself, I don’t click on it. And the people I surround myself with don’t really talk about that kind of stuff. [Laughs]. I heard something, but I didn’t pay any attention. It’s as simple as being a woman picking a dress you like and having a night, and not really thinking about anything else.”

[Via HuufPo]

Okay… ugh. Look, I’m obviously Team Jolie and everything, but I think Angelina struck the wrong tone here. She sounds defensive, and like she’s trying too hard to convince us that she didn’t and doesn’t care what we think. Which, to my mind, is BS. She knew that a “controversy” (however dumb and overplayed) had spread, and over the next few weeks, we got Angelina’s real reaction to the “controversy”: a series of photo ops with the kids, with Angelina not showing off her figure at all, plus some high-profile charity and political work. That’s how she dealt with the “crisis”. She didn’t ignore it – she changed the story.

Also, I should note that Jim Rash insisted that he meant absolutely no harm to Angelina, and he was not “slamming” or “mocking” her. He said it on Oscar night, and he’s said it in interviews afterwards too. Right after the Oscars, he told E! News: “My argument is, I felt she was owning that….She even chuckled beforehand, so I thought, ‘That’s a great way for me to sort of own this proud moment.’ As soon as she got up there, she sort of chuckled and I thought she was sort of like saying, ‘Check this out, I’m gonna work this dress.’ And she did. So I was like, ‘Well, I’m gonna work my tux’…I wish it had a slit down the side, because I have amazing legs.” Rash said that he hadn’t heard anything from Brad or Angelina but “If they wanted me to come to a pool party and explain that to their face, I would. I hope I have not burned some bridges. I did pass Brad on the way out and nothing happened…he didn’t punch me or anything. My face is still perfect.” Then, just last week, Rash talked about the incident with The AV Club:

AVC: Going back to Oscar night: You’re onstage, about to accept the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. Was it just an old improv instinct that kicked in, encouraging you to strike the Angelina Jolie pose?
JR: You know, it’s weird. Some people agree with me, understand what I’m saying—but as you’re waiting for that moment, for that envelope to be opened, Angelina got onstage, and with her pose and stance—I just thought it was fun because I thought she was owning and having fun with and rocking her outfit. When I got up there, we were proud, it was this long journey and all of a sudden your name is read and you’re outside of your head, and I thought “What a great way to just show off a proud moment”—with the Oscar on my leg. [Laughs.] I guess I didn’t see it as mocking. [Jolie] was doing it and owning it and having fun, so I thought that would be fun to see my version of it. I wouldn’t call it mocking, like everyone did. I felt bad that was the reaction. I was just having fun, so hopefully she took it all in good fun.

AVC: Have you heard anything from the Pitt-Jolie camp?
JR: I can’t imagine. Most people I’ve spoken with who have met her and him say they have a great sense of humor. All I was doing was doing my version of that proud moment, whatever it is. Doesn’t mean I won’t write her a letter. [Laughs.] Why not.

AVC: How would that letter start?
JR: “Dear Angelina. I’m the bald, bespectacled guy.” Probably something I would do, though, because I just want her to know what I was thinking. Neurotic.

[From The AV Club]

Seriously. He didn’t mean anything by it. For real.

Photos courtesy of WENN.