Everything that is wrong with the human race': inside Hollywood's bizarre war on the leaf blower

"Perhaps Bette Davis and Joan Crawford's mutual loathing comes to mind? Or Marlon Brando's 40-year-old beef with Burt Reynolds? Maybe the more recent tensions between Olivia Wilde and Florence Pugh? Well, let me tell you: these are absolutely nothing compared to Cate Blanchett and her indefatigable animus towards the leaf blower. Seemingly every single leaf blower. Truly, this is one of the greatest celebrity animosities of this century."

"The earliest extant Blanchett-rant on the subject is a W Magazine interview, way back in 2007, when she ambiguously characterised leaf blowers a lot of fence-sitting here as everything that is wrong with the human race. In the 18 years since, the two-time Oscar winner has ranted about leaf blowers: while munching her way through chicken wings on Hot Ones (Gardeners, their faces they know what they're doing is stupid); on Subway Takes (Leaf blowers need to be eradicated from the face of the Earth); during the press tour for her film Black Bag (If you see someone with a leaf blower, doesn't your blood pressure go up?); and even on the red carpet at the world premiere for Where'd You Go, Bernadette (for the avoidance of doubt: I hate them so much)."

"She even shoehorned them into a press conference at Cannes for a film very much not about leaf blowers (the film's director: This again?). Blanchett's abhorrence of the leaf blower has become so renowned that she has fully leaned in, appearing in a sketch with her Borderlands co-star Gina Gershon. This passionate detestation has, as you might imagine, not gone unremarked upon by internet denizens. There are now a number of compilations of Blanchett bitching about leaf blowers, while memes abound."

Cate Blanchett has expressed sustained, vocal hostility toward leaf blowers for at least eighteen years. The complaints span interviews, televised segments, press tours, red carpets, and festival press conferences. Blanchett has used colorful language to characterise leaf blowers as emblematic of what is wrong with humanity and has called for their eradication. The remarks include on-camera rants, comedic sketches, and repeated mentions across promotional events. The repeated public condemnations have generated compilations, memes, and widespread online attention, and Blanchett herself acknowledges frequently bringing up the topic.

Read at www.theguardian.com