American Horror Story fans filled the Dolby Theatre Sunday to see the cast in person for PaleyFest, but they got more than they bargained for.
Cuba Gooding Jr. drew outrage on social media when he lifted co-star Sarah Paulson’s dress at the beginning of the panel when she stood up to welcome co-star Kathy Bates to the stage.
What happened to Sarah Paulson yesterday at #PaleyFest was so disrespectful and definitely NOT OK or funny
— Rebecca O’Keeffe (@RebeccaOkeeffe5) March 27, 2017
Okay, yes I went back to screenshot this. But does he seriously think this is okay? @cubagoodingjr @MsSarahPaulson pic.twitter.com/xHEnURhY3H
— Elle ?? (@MistyyyGoode) March 27, 2017
How would @cubagoodingjr react if a man walked up to his daughter, Piper and lifted her dress up behind her back? #itsneverok
— SallyThatTwirl (@SupremelyOne) March 27, 2017
Um… so is @cubagoodingjr allowed to get away with lifting @MsSarahPaulson skirt at @paleycenter? Total disrespect to a woman
— WinterThreds (@piratepenzan) March 27, 2017
Despite the incident, Paulson took the moment in stride, quickly grabbing her dress and pulling it down. Gooding Jr., who shared the screen with Paulson in both AHS and The People v. O.J. Simpson, was animated during the hourlong panel, which also saw him dance onstage and jokingly get up to move Paulson and Bates’ chairs apart from each other when they were jokingly arguing with each other during the panel. However, he quickly moved their chairs back together.
The panel mainly served to look back at the most recent season of the FX anthology drama, which marked Gooding Jr.’s first. Paulson has appeared in every season of AHS thus far and is already confirmed to return for season seven, which is expected to premiere later this year.
As of Monday morning, Paulson hasn’t yet tweeted since the panel about the social media backlash that followed Gooding Jr.’s behavior.
