“Figures” and “Fences” are similar words rhythmically and they both start with “F,” so it’s an understandable mistake, but people were reacting to the perceived Freudian slip in which Bush Hager and Keaton marked Hidden Figures and Fences as dismissible “black movies.”
The slip-up was magnified because the two movies Bush Hager conflated, Hidden Figures and Fences, are about black characters, and Bush Hager is the daughter of former President George W. Bush, who was famously accused of not caring about black people.
“When I was interviewing the incomparable Pharrell, who I adore, I accidentally — in the electricity of the red carpet, which I’ve never done one before — called Hidden Figures ‘Hidden Fences,'” Bush Hager said.
NBC News correspondent Jenna Bush Hager attracted the ire of social media Sunday night when she called the movie Hidden Figures “Hidden Fences” on the Golden Globes red carpet during an interview with Hidden Figures composer Pharrell Williams.