Eva Mendes Aces the Art of the Funny Apology

Eva Mendes, new mom and actress known for her looks, talent and romance with Ryan Gosling, has issued an Instagram apology for saying that sweatpants are the"number one reason for divorce" last week on Extra. Mendes was on the show to promote her partnership with makeup line Circa and dropped her sweatpant bomb as a response to correspondent AJ Calloway's question about her personal style. Right away, people got very uptight about the comment. She's a gorgeous celebrity who also talked about appearing on a Women's Health magazine cover during that interview. "Regular" women are wearing sweats because they don't have the benefit of nannies and trainers to get them back into skinny jeans a couple of months after giving birth. (Though it should be noted that Mendes mentions all of the shenanigans that go into making a celeb look like she has her pre-baby body so soon after giving birth in front of the camera.) But in addition, our cultural discussion about how we talk about women's bodies and body image continues to rage on. All that said, Mendes has a pair of sweatpants in her clothing line for New York & Company. She was clearly joking. Seeing that people were offended, she went to Instagram to apologize, continuing to apply that light touch with the image below: Dear favorite pair of sweatpants. I was just kidding when I said you're the #1 cause of divorce. Everyone knows that orange crocs are the #1 cause of divorce. Either way it was a bad joke and feel terrible if you or anyone thought I was serious. Thanks for understanding sweatpants. Sorry orange crocs. She got a little backup from her boo, with Gosling tweeting the following: https://twitter.com/RyanGosling/status/578980540457435136 https://twitter.com/RyanGosling/status/578980540457435136 The whole thing has got us thinking about apologies and why Eva Mendes can back out of slightly sticky comments unscathed. Here are a few reasons: 1. As my PRNewser colleague SP points out, Mendes (and Gosling) are movie stars. Popular ones that people like. The public is much more forgiving of beautiful famous people. So PRs, if one of your beautiful famous clients (even C-level famous will suffice) sticks their foot in it, this will work in your favor. 2. She's not promoting anything too huge. When a person or company is launching a big campaign or debuting some hugely anticipated something, the build up generates outsize reactions. If something is said on the red carpet leading into the premiere of the number one movie in the world, it's going to linger in the news cycle and in people's minds because that film was marketed to do just that. A small partnership wasn't going to generate huge headlines and a minor comment wasn't going to make those headlines much larger. 3. She's actually funny. The interview she gave was laid back and the comment was made in jest. Her IG apology maintained that same tone. If you say something seriously, you can't turn around later and say, "Just kidding." It doesn't ring true. 4. Context. The topics she touched on -- divorce, body image, motherhood -- are all serious. But on a scale of all the issues related to these topics, whether or not you should wear sweatpants is very low. Ultimately, everyone wants to see us deal with the more important things, and there are plenty of those to tackle. And of course J Lo chimed in, and you'll be happy to know she's pro-sweatpants and says men like the "jiggle" that comes along with them. So now that we've gotten that last bit of word vomit in, this will no doubt be the end of "Sweatpant Snafu 2015." Please resume living your life. Image of Eva Mendes via Extra clip.

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Eva Mendes Aces the Art of the Funny Apology

People are very passionate about sweatpants.

Tonya Garcia

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Tonya Garcia