Talulah Riley Says ‘Beauty And The Beast’ Star Emma Watson’s Gender Equality Campaign Is ‘Confusing’

“Beauty and the Beast” star Emma Watson is a proud advocate of gender equality. However, Elon Musk’s ex-wife Talulah Riley did not agree with the actress’ gender equality campaign and deemed it confusing.

Watson is campaigning for HeForShe that is calling everyone to stand together. “What we share is more powerful than what divides us. Take action now to create a gender equal world,” the tagline reads. At the time, this movement has already gained over a billion supporters, but Riley is not sold out with the idea.

“Men and women should have equal rights, of course, but [they] are also different and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Riley told Daily Mail. “We don’t have to start unifying gender in order to establish political equality.”

READ: Emma Watson‘s MTV Awards acceptance speech received a mixed reaction from the audience

“The HeForShe campaign creates a lot of confusion when it comes to gender equality, because people are getting stuck in a semantic argument, rather than addressing the actual issue. People are associating gender equality with being exactly the same and, of course, that’s not what it means,” Riley explained further. “You lose the real issue when you have that confusion.”

Riley pointed out to Watson’s reaction in the recently concluded MTV Movie And TV Awards. In the said event, the “Harry Potter” star praised the network for abolishing the “best actress” award. The 27-year-old star won the first genderless acting award which reads as the “best actor” and this did not sit well with Riley.

“MTV's move to create a genderless award for acting will mean something different to everyone," Watson said in her acceptance speech, CNN reported. “But to me, it indicates that acting is about the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and that doesn’t need to be separated into two different categories.”

Among the popular stars nominated for the same category that Watson won were “Wolverine” star Hugh Jackman and “X-Men” actor James McAvoy. Watson’s “Beauty and the Beast” also won the movie of the year award.

A number of artists, including Mandy Moore are thrilled about the gender-neutral acting categories because for her it “let the work stand for itself.” The “A Walk To Remember” star added that it was incredible to be nominated alongside actors she admired.

For the network, they designed the gender-neutral acting categories to reflect what their young audience feel. “This year, given everything that's going on around us, it just seemed really important to make a lot of changes,” Vanessa Whitewolf, co-executive producer of the Movie & TV Awards told MTV. “[Young viewers] just love good performances. They don’t care if it’s coming from a male or a female. Gender doesn’t really have anything to do with it.”

Meanwhile, per Daily Mail, Riley is not afraid of antagonizing powerful women. In fact, she gazumped Cherie Blaire on a £3 million Georgian house in London’s Marylebone. She is also expected to make another controversial move in her upcoming book. “It’s about a group of women who conspire to take over the UK and turn it into a matriarchy.’ Look out!” she said about the sequel to her novel.

Do you agree with Riley that Watson’s campaign for HeForShe is confusing? Share your thoughts below.