Happy Sad Confused Happy Sad Confused

SOCIAL MEDIA FEEDS across the globe were hopping with mentions of renowned Kerry-based cat-hater Jessie Buckley this morning. 

We use that description with tongue firmly in cheek, obviously.

But people have been saying far, far worse about the award-winning actor in any number of online platforms, apparently entirely in earnest. 

So where did this all come from? 

It’s all down to a clip from an old podcast resurfacing in the last couple of days. 

Back when Buckley and her Hamnet co-star Paul Mescal were on the publicity circuit for the critically acclaimed historical drama, they made an appearance on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused Podcast. 

After talking about the film at length, they continued into a long rambling chat that touched on everything from The Beatles and music festivals to Youtube rabbit holes and, finally, yes, their taste in pets. 

Are they dog people or cat people, the host asked. 

Buckley readily admitted that she didn’t particularly like cats.

“Fuck cats, honestly,” Mescal chipped in.

As it tends to on this sort of podcast, banter ensued.

None of it was meant to be particularly serious.

The contentious bit came then.

Mescal: "Fuck cats."

Picking up a thread from earlier in the podcast where Mescal had said he might get cancelled for not liking the Coachella festival, Buckley ad-libbed that she might also get in trouble for what she was about to say before commenting: 

“My husband, when I started dating him … he had two cats. One of the cats was a pedigree model bitch and she staged like a coup against me.

“I’d come home and there’d just be poo on my pillow. And I was, like, ‘it’s me or the cats’. 

The cat “didn’t like this interloper” in her space, Horowitz suggested. 

“No… But I won!! Thanks.”

You can watch the exchange below. The pet chat kicks off at around the 36.45 mark. 

The exchange has gone viral on multiple platforms, and has been picked up everywhere from the Huffington Post (‘Oscars Front-Runner Makes Shocking Confession About Her Husband’s Cats’) to Newsweek (‘Mescal and Buckley’s Controversial Cat Comments Spark Backlash’). 

So far, surprisingly, there has been no mention whatsoever over on breakingcatnews.com.

The topic, meanwhile, has divided opinion here at The Journal. 

“Sorry Jessie, The cats were there first. I am happy to be the resident cat defender here, they are loving and affectionate creatures,” one staff member offered.

Another wrote: “The husband def made the calculation that my current partner is going places whereas my cat is just going back to sleep.”

But summing up the mood of the office – perhaps the nation – our Voices Editor Laura Byrne offered this opinion, then wrote it down and both emailed and Whatsapped it to me: 

“I suggest we give Jessie Buckley a break and let her celebrate her recent success. And as for the talk of cancelling, good god, can you not ‘talk shite’ anymore.”

So what have we learned? 

So is there any greater significance to this clip resurfacing now, or is this just another bout of viral outrage that we’ll all have forgotten about by the weekend? 

Funnily enough, voting in the Academy Awards closes tonight.

Buckley, fresh from her win at the Actor awards last weekend, is hotly tipped to go home with an Oscar when the awards take place on Sunday week – but her race is not quite run yet, and as the deadline approaches there may still be votes to be won or lost.

Is there a bad actor (or a perfectly good actor with malign intentions) at work, trying to damp down the cat-loving vote within the Academy? 

Much like the mystery of whatever fate befell Jessie’s husband’s cat, we may never find out.