Ortega draws flak for shooting 'Wednesday' scenes with Covid

LOS ANGELES: Actress Jenna Ortega is facing backlash after she confessed that she filmed the dance scene on the hit Netflix series 'Wednesday' while testing positive for Covid.

The 20-year-old actress made the confession during an interview with NME. During the candid chat, she revealed that her infamous dance scene was filmed during her "first day with COVID so it was awful to film," reports aceshowbiz.com.

"I woke up and it's weird, I never get sick and when I do it's not very bad. I had the body aches," Jenna further described the symptoms. "I felt like I'd been hit by a car and that a little goblin had been let loose in my throat and was scratching the walls of my esophagus."

Additionally, Jenna said she was given "medicine between takes" while "waiting on the positive result" of a COVID-19 test.

"I asked to redo it but we didn't have time. I think I probably could have done it a bit better," she said, after proudly revealing she "choreographed" her own moves.

Following the confession, social media critics were quick to criticise her decision to film the scene despite experiencing COVID symptoms. "It was dangerous, unethical, and extremely selfish thing to do, both on her part, and on the part of the directors and producers," one person tweeted, "There's absolutely no positive way to spin an actress knowingly exposing hundreds of cast members and crew to COVID."

Another insisted that the star "filming that dance scene while she had COVID is not impressive." The said person added, "It's horrible. Absolutely callous disregard for her coworkers," and said they hope to see Jenna's interview with NME "cited in a lawsuit."

"Jenna Ortega having COVID on set and working unmasked around other unmasked performers is not a flex. She should not be praised for 'working while sick.' The above line crew could've possibly disabled or killed someone for their irresponsibility," someone else pointed out.

A separate critic stated that they were "disappointed to learn that Jenna Ortega had COVID symptoms on set but was still allowed" to film the dance scene. They then asked, "I wonder how many people got sick? And how many people those people got sick?"

Indeed, Jenna delivered a memorable dance that has become the talk of social media. The dance scene has gone so viral that "Goo Goo Muck" by The Cramps has increased its Spotify streams by 9.5 per cent since "Wednesday" debuted.