Constance Wu walks back her negative Fresh Off the Boat renewal tweets, insists she's "so grateful"

Entertainment Weekly

Wu initially appeared to have a negative reaction to the news of Fresh Off the Boat's Season 6 pickup Friday on Twitter and Instagram. "So upset right now that I'm literally crying. Ugh. F*ck." She followed that up with a "F*cking hell" tweet. When a Twitter user congratulated her on the "Great news :), Wu responded: "No it's not." Hours later, Wu clarified that her words were "not a rampage," and that people were making the wrong assumptions. She followed that up with a tweet walking back her profane response: "Todays tweets were on the heels of rough day&were ill timed w/the news of the show. Plz know, Im so grateful for FOTB renewal. I love the cast&crew. Im proud to be a part of it. For all the fans support, thank u & for all who support my casual use of the word f*ck-thank u too." Fresh Off the Boat's renewal comes after Wu became more in demand thanks to the massive box office success last summer of Crazy Rich Asians. Critic Inkoo Kang wondered if Wu was unhappy with her Jessica Hwang character. Kang wrote last November in Slate that Fresh Off the Boat's Season 5 treatment of Jessica Hwang was "such a disappointment," especially after Wu's brief reign as "multiplex queen" last summer. "The actress is as nimble as ever, but sometime last year, the writers seem to have forgotten what makes Jessica such a brilliant character," wrote Kang. "She still gets to throw flames, but now she’s forced to apologize for them, repeatedly. Her self-possession coarsened into self-absorption, Jessica has become yet another immature character in need of life lessons, alongside her middle- and high-school-age children. It’s a humiliating (and groan-inducing) turn, with insulting implications for the immigrant culture she represents... Fresh Off the Boat has made Jessica into something that was unimaginable just two years ago: a petulant, off-putting idiot. And since Jessica was by all accounts the show’s most interesting character, her decline has correspondingly tanked the show’s watchability." Fresh Off the Boat was renewed without creator and showrunner Nahnatchka Khan, who left 20th Century Fox TV for a new TV deal at Universal TV.