A clip from Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley’s appearance on Happy, Sad, Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz went viral recently, with the two actors unexpectedly receiving backlash over their comments about cats.
The moment came during Horowitz’s rapid-fire “Happy, Sad, Confused” segment at the end of the interview. Horowitz asked a simple question: “Are you dogs or cats?” Mescal responded immediately: “Dog.”
Buckley agreed but took the answer a step further, saying, “I don’t like cats.” Mescal then added, “F*** cats, honestly,” prompting Buckley to double down with, “F*** them.”
Horowitz, clearly surprised by how far the conversation had escalated, joked, “Are you actively trying to ruin your career?”
The two actors then attempted to explain their stance, with Buckley saying, “Cats are mean,” and Mescal echoing the sentiment: “They’re too clever.”
Buckley went on to share a personal story about her husband’s pets, which she said fueled her feelings.
“When I started dating my husband, he had two cats. This is bad. So I’m going to get cancelled,” she said. “But one of the cats was like a pedigree model b**** and she staged like a coup against me. I come home and there’d just be like poo on my pillow and I was like, it’s me or the cats.”
Horowitz offered a sympathetic explanation, suggesting the cat may have simply been defending its territory: “She didn’t like this interloper. This is my house.”
Buckley confirmed the theory with a blunt “No, but I won.”
The clip quickly circulated online, drawing strong reactions, particularly from cat lovers, who took issue with the actors’ comments. In response to the backlash, Buckley later appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to address the controversy, though her attempt to clarify the situation arguably drew even more attention to it.
On the show, Buckley said she woke up “to the world thinking that I really don’t love cats,” admitting the backlash had “weighed on me all day” and even made her feel “sick.”
She insisted she is actually a “lover of cats,” calling the situation a misconception that stemmed from another interview where she had simply been asked whether she identified more with dogs or cats. According to Buckley, her answer was that she is “probably a quarter cat and three-quarters dog.”
Trying to lighten the moment, Buckley also recalled auditioning for the 2019 film Cats, describing the process as deeply awkward. She said the audition required her to perform feline movements while “sweating,” “licking my paws,” and jumping around the room. She called the experience the worst audition she had ever done.
