Steven DeKnight apologizes to ‘toxic’ Jenna Ortega

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Celebrities

By Jack Hobbs and Brooke Kato

March 16, 2023 | 10:19 a.m

Hollywood veteran Steven DeKnight is soft-pedaling on shocking comments he made about “Wednesday” star Jenna Ortega being “toxic” and “entitled.”

DeKnight tweeted a semi-apology to Ortega for his earlier statements — on Wednesday, fittingly — about Netflix’s 20-year-old breakout star.

“I can’t stress this enough: She’s an amazing talent,” said DeKnight, 58, who has produced and written the likes of “Daredevil” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” during his long career.

“It was just an unfortunate situation to reveal creative differences publicly,” he added, “and I’ll also admit that writers are on edge because of the impending strike, myself included. A perfect storm.”

The comments come after “Scream VI” star Ortega revealed on Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast that she changed lines in the Netflix sequels and acted “unprofessional” at times.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had to put my foot down more on a set the way I had to on ‘Wednesday,'” Ortega declared earlier this week, the latest in a string of recent bouts herself. show.

DeKnight in the first place shot back tweeting, “She’s young so maybe she doesn’t know better (but she should). She should also ask herself how she would feel if the showrunners gave an interview and talked about how difficult she was and refused to present the material.”

The producer and filmmaker also said that stars sometimes “don’t have the full picture (on TV) of where the story is going and why some lines are necessary for the whole to make sense.”

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This kind of statement is unwarranted and toxic. I love her work but life is too short to deal with people like that in the industry.

— Steven DeKnight (@stevendeknight) March 7, 2023

The Post contacted DeKnight and Ortega for comment.

Meanwhile, “Wednesday” is currently the second most-watched English-language show on Netflix, having watched 1.02 billion hours since its Nov. 16 premiere.

On the 48-year-old Shepard’s podcast last week, the “Wednesday” star admitted she put her “foot down” on the verge of being “unprofessional” for her Addams Family character, who she was “very protective of.” ”

“I don’t think I’ve ever had to put my foot down more on a set the way I had to on ‘Wednesday,'” she said. “Everything Wednesday does, everything I had to play, didn’t make sense for her character at all.”

Ortega also previously revealed that taping the show made her cry “hysterically” due to a hectic schedule.

“It was showing up to set two hours early, doing the 12- to 14-hour day, then going home and then going on a Zoom and getting the lesson I had,” Ortega recalled.

“Or show up at my apartment, (and) my cello teacher was already waiting for me. It was just constantly going on, and if you could on a weekend, if we didn’t shoot the sixth day that week, it was, ‘Okay, well, we’ll get your lessons on that day.'”

Despite her admittedly questionable behavior on set, Ortega is set to star in the show’s second season — as well as serve as one of the executive producers.

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