Jennifer Esposito Defends Laughing At Viral Lady Gaga And Bradley Cooper Video

In the midst of this Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony, as the show chugged along despite the vacant hosting position and before Green Book drove away with Best Picture, one question was raised by many viewers: "Are Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper hooking up?" Their intimate and sensual rendition of "Shallow" made a lot of folks curious, since their chemistry together was beyond explosive, and the theory was given more credibility when Cooper's ex-wife, Jennifer Esposito, responded by laughing at one of the viral posts. As the week presses forward, many people wanted to know what Esposito meant with her short "ha" response. Luckily, she's responded. Take a look.

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In her Instagram video statement, Jennifer Esposito criticized the commenters online who made a big spectacle over what she felt was a brief, to-the-point response to another celebrity's joke. In this case, Esposito laughed at David Spade's "bold" response to Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga's musical performance, claiming there was nothing mean-spirited in her comment. She worried that people are focusing too much on this non-essential matter when we are living in these "insanity of nonsense" times where more important matters should be discussed instead. In her words:

It was toward David Spade's very outward statement about something about an ex, and I literally laughed at him because he was so bold in what he was saying. I thought it was funny. And I'm allowed to think something is funny. And you're also allowed to say something, and obviously this is a time when everyone is saying whatever the hell they want. But when you start speaking about things and you have no idea. ... When you come an attack a person for saying "ha." ... we have so many things going on in our country and in our world that need attention, and I wish you would spend even a minute of this insanity of nonsense on things that are really important.

Additionally, Jennifer Esposito said she was disappointed with other women who were also speculating on her "ha" response, particularly the ones who said she was an "old lady" who "needed to feel relevant" after her ex-husband was in the spotlight with another woman. Esposito claimed she didn't actually view this year's Oscars, and she stated she "didn't know what went on" during this year's big ceremony -- including Bradley Cooper's mid-show musical performance. Furthermore, the actress/author bluntly noted that she "doesn't care" either.

To take things one step further, Jennifer Esposito claimed the people who were making "judgment calls" about herself, along with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga and anyone else who might be involved, were "psychotic." And she stressed again that "there are so many better things to do with your day." But Esposito felt it was important to speak up and say her piece. Then she made it clear that her "ha" response wasn't meant to be directed towards Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, i.e. "the people on the other side of the 'ha.'" With that, Esposito cleared her thoughts.

Will Ashton

Will is an entertainment writer based in Pittsburgh, PA. His writing can also be found in The Playlist, Cut Print Film, We Got This Covered, The Young Folks, Slate and other outlets. He also co-hosts the weekly film/TV podcast Cinemaholics with Jon Negroni and he likes to think he's a professional Garfield enthusiast.