Jameela Jamil says she is "less annoying" in real life than on Twitter.
The 34-year-old actress and activist sees herself as a "provocateur" online, where she advocates on a number of issues but Jameela says she is simply trying to draw people’s attention to worthy causes and she is different in person.
She told The Guardian newspaper: "I think I’m less annoying in person than I am on Twitter. I live online as a provocateur. Sometimes you have to say things that are going to piss people off in order to create discussion. I’m outrageous about abortion. I say things that might come across as insensitive so that thousands of people join a conversation. That’s not to defend all my insensitivity. Sometimes I genuinely get it wrong."
However, she admitted that she was unprepared for the large following that came with her starring role on ‘The Good Place’ and is still learning to navigate her newfound popularity.
She explained: "I feel on the internet for 10 years, but I never had a big following, so I was never able to do much harm – or much good. Out of nowhere, I now have more than four million people at my fingertips. After a decade of people not really listening to you, you’re not prepared for that responsibility. I have learned to be much more careful when calling someone out, especially if that person is already at a disadvantage."
And Jameela often gets frustrated with the ‘cancel culture’ of the internet.
She said: "I’m happy to be called out. I don’t mind learning in public. I’ve become a better person for it. What I find frustrating is that when you admit you were wrong people seem to attack you more. When I apologise there’s a hysteria of bullying. We’re so unaccustomed to dealing with humility, you sometimes get treated worse than if you say nothing. There’s no accountability, and no opportunity to learn – it really halts evolution. It’s not a weakness to apologise."
Jameela Jamil: ‘I’m less annoying in real life’
