Jenna Ortega And Winona Ryder Just Reflected On Their Viral Red Carpet Moment That Highlighted The Poignant Difference Between Gen Z And Gen X Celebrities

In the video, which was filmed at the Venice Film Festival, 52-year-old Winona can be seen posing alongside Jenna when photographers start shouting at her to take off her sunglasses. 

Winona appears to hesitate as she goes to reluctantly remove the shades, but at this point, 21-year-old Jenna steps in. 

Perhaps picking up on her costar’s hesitation, Jenna appears to tell Winona: “No, you don’t have to,” with her words seemingly reassuring Winona, who then defiantly keeps her sunglasses on.  

For context, Winona was just 16 years old when she was catapulted to stardom following the release of the original Beetlejuice movie in 1988, an era when newcomers — especially young women — were encouraged to be amenable and accommodating at all times. 

As a result, Jenna was praised for the way that she offered Winona reassurance by reminding her that she doesn’t actually have to do what the photographers tell her.

One viral tweet reacting to the moment reads: “There’s something very comforting about the younger generation encouraging the older generation (who were raised to please & say yes) to maintain their boundaries no matter what.”

“Comforting her and reassuring her that she does not owe the paps anything is such a beautiful exchange between a newer and older generation,” somebody else wrote on a Reddit forum. “I’m glad young people are exercising their boundaries, and also encouraging their older co-stars to do the same.”

“It’s so cool to see the exchange between generations. These younger artists are more aware of boundaries and didn't grow up with abusive paparazzi culture, and I'm sure Jenna learned some cool stuff from Winona too,” one more added. 

And Jenna and Winona have now reacted to their viral moment in a new interview with Hits Radio UK.

While Jenna looked completely confused by this comment, Winona excitedly exclaimed: “I heard about this! Apparently we went viral? I think it’s, like, my first viral moment!”

“Because they were screaming: ‘Take the glasses off!’ and I was like: ‘Uhhh….’ and Jenna was like: ‘No, you don’t have to do that,’ and it was amazing,” Winona added.

Their costar Catherine O’Hara then replied: “That’s lovely. And sounds so simple, doesn’t it?”

“I succumbed, I took them off,” Catherine then admitted. “I kept them on for a while, took them off, then I put them back on, sorry!”

Seemingly backing up last week’s discourse, Winona said to Catherine: “Yeah, we do come from a generation where you’re like: ‘Ugh OK…’”

But Jenna wasn’t so sure that it was entirely a generational thing, saying to Winona: “But also, I think it’s much easier to do it for other people. I feel like if I wore glasses and they told me, I think you would have done it like that. Because it is awkward!”

“Yeah, like, if they were screaming that at her… Yeah, I would have lunged at them,” Winona agreed.