The internet is divided over a tense exchange between John Krasinski and his wife Emily Blunt on the red carpet of the 2024 Golden Globes.
The pair were posing for photos outside in the January wind, arm in arm, when Krasinski leant over to Blunt and muttered something to her, through his smile.
While it’s noisy with photographers yelling and cameras flashing, fans on TikTok have supposedly ‘lip read’ the exchange (alongside the shaky audio) and decided that he is saying, “I can’t wait to get a divorce.”
The take saw sites all over the world posture that the couple, who appeared loved up and smiley later on the red carpet, could be calling it quits. All over a lip reading.
However, upon looking at the video again, others thought Krasinski could be saying something different, such as “I can’t wait to get indoors” as it was windy and cold, or “I can’t wait for these awards.”
It wasn’t the only ‘lip reading’ scenario that occurred at the Globes.
Selena Gomez was in hot water after she was captured gossiping with friends Taylor Swift and Keleigh Sperry at the show. A lip reading suggested that she was saying something about Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet, however, she later came out and said it wasn’t the case.
Read what really happened, here.
These are just a few scenarios of celebrity lip reading, but it does beg the question of how much we can trust the internet’s take on things.
Of course, lip reading (sometimes called speechreading) is a tool often used by those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing to understand speech, and can be incredibly useful. It involves carefully watching the movement of the mouth and tongue, alongside the wider facial cues of the person who is speaking.
According to the National Deaf Children’s Society, it is an important skill for those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing to learn, but cannot be associated with complete accuracy.
“It is estimated that only 30% to 40% of speech sounds can be lip-read even under the best conditions and extra information is usually required to understand what is being said,” it states.
Lip-reading also relies on getting a really clear view of the person speaking and the movements of their mouths. Often, when it comes to celebrity lip-reading, it’s a side view, or too far away to really make out exactly what they’re saying.
And finally, some of the ‘lip reading’ and interpretation online is being done by people who may not be skilled in the art. If a skilled lipreader has about 30-40 per cent accuracy, a side view and less experienced lip-reader may find their accuracy is far less than this.
So – long story, short – while it is certainly big tea whenever we *think* a celebrity has said something gossip-worthy on camera, it is important to be cautious of interpretations on the internet, which may not be completely trustworthy.
