While Zendaya has accepted Giuliana Rancic’s apology for the E! News host’s joke about her hair at the Oscars, it turns out that's not the end of the story. It turns out that the offensive Fashion Police jokes were pre-written and may have even been filmed more than once.
The controversy began on Monday, during Fashion Police’s Oscars episode. Rancic joked about Zendaya’s dreadlocks, suggesting they smelled like “patchouli” and “maybe weed.” Rancic apologized on Twitter, then issued a longer statement during an E! News episode on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Zendaya accepted her apology.
While it may have appeared that Rancic’s jokes were improvised, Access Hollywood reports that the joke was written by a Fashion Police writer.
There was also a rumor, posted by Us Weekly, that the segment was filmed three times. Kelly Osbourne - who actually threatened to leave the show if Rancic didn’t apologize - said on the set at the time that they couldn’t make the joke. Osbourne is close friends with Zendaya.
However, Rancic told Access Hollywood that this was “absolutely not” true and that the segment was only filmed once.
“There was only one take of Giuliana's comments. Kelly did let the group know Zendaya is a friend of hers,” an E! News rep told Us Weekly.
“Giuliana, I appreciate your apology and I’m glad it was a learning experience for you and the network,” Zendaya, 18, wrote in her statement on Wednesday. “I hope that others negatively affected by her words can also find it in their hearts to accept her apology as well.”
image via Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com