Anne Hathaway said the N-word?! Inside the cursed movie Havoc that was basically buried

You may have seen a clip doing the rounds showing Anne Hathaway saying the N-word multiple times. No, it’s not AI – the actress really did say it for a film called Havoc, and its backstory is almost as wild.

Right now, Hathaway is in the midst of her biggest year yet. The film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s Verity is dropping this week, marking the fifth major 2026 movie she’s starred in after Mother Mary, The Devil Wears Prada 2, The Odyssey and The End of Oak Street.

What’s more, she announced that she’s pregnant with her third child in June, showing off her baby bump at the press events for her recent films. 

But this week, talks have turned to an altogether different chapter of Hathaway’s life after a clip from a long forgotten film went viral. It shows the Oscar-winning actress singing 2Pac’s ‘How Do U Want It’ – and saying the N-word twice. 

The post has received more than 6.6 million views at the time of writing, alongside hundreds of comments from viewers baffled by the unexpected performance. “That moment caught me completely off guard,” wrote one. “Definitely wasn’t expecting that from Anne Hathaway.”

*Warning: The clip below contains offensive language*

Erm, where is that Anne Hathaway N-word clip actually from?

The clip is from Havoc, a 2005 crime drama that is almost as controversial as the viral scene itself. The film centres on a group of privileged, white teenagers from the affluent Pacific Palisades in LA, who have become obsessed with hip-hop and gang culture.

I was not expecting Anne Hathaway to say the N word 😂 pic.twitter.com/3ZTPrwTWF2

— Mr. Olympian (@realmrolympian) September 29, 2026

When they venture into East LA looking for drugs, they encounter a real Latino gang, only to find themselves in real danger. 

Hathaway plays Allison Lang, one of the teenagers who superficially adopts the culture as part of her own identity, without any real understanding of the world she’s imitating.

In terms of *that* clip, she sings along to the 2Pac song at a party to impress her (white) boyfriend Toby (Mike Vogel) and their (white) friends – and she doesn’t censor the N-word. 

Here’s the thing: Havoc is deliberately taking aim at wealthy white teenagers who appropriate cultures they have little understanding of, and Allison’s casual use of the N-word is a part of showing just how oblivious she is. 

But the way the film attempts to make that point has itself been heavily criticised. In its original review, The Washington Post said the teenagers treat the language and behaviour they’re appropriating like fashion accessories. 

But, ultimately, the outlet said it offered too simplistic a take on the racial and class divide it’s supposedly exploring. By the end, Michael O’Sullivan wrote, “Nobody’s learned anything, except to stay away from people who aren’t like you.”

Other critics were more blunt. In the Fray’s Terry Sawyer called Havoc “one of the most racially condescending films I’ve ever seen,” criticising “the film’s portrayal of minorities as sociopaths on the fringe of culture.”

Overall, no one was massively sold on the movie, with Havoc’s current Rotten Tomatoes scores sitting at 45% from the critics and 36% from audiences. But there may be another reason so many people haven’t heard of it. 

Despite its huge cast, Havoc was basically buried

What makes this whole thing even stranger is that Hathaway – who was coming off the back of her Princess Diaries success – was far from the only big name actor in Havoc’s cast. 

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Channing Tatum and Josh Peck were among the lineup, while two-time Oscar winner Barbara Kopple directed from a script by Traffic writer Stephen Gaghan. 

Yet despite, as The Washington Post described it, “that kind of pedigree,” Havoc never received a proper theatrical release in the US. Instead, it was released straight to DVD in 2005, only receiving a limited cinema release internationally. As such, it only made a measly $371,000 at the box office.

Hathaway was actually asked at the time how a movie written and directed by Oscar winners had ended up going straight to DVD – and her answer suggested things hadn’t exactly gone to plan.

Speaking to Chud while on the press run for Brokeback Mountain, she explained, “It was an ambitious film. It was an ambitious project, and there were a lot of cooks in the kitchen and sometimes that just happens. The best laid plans kind of type situation. 

“Maybe DVD is best for it. It’s a very different film, it does have stuff that’s objectionable to it, and if people are interested they can seek it out on their own. But it happens. God, everybody has straight to video. So this is my first one. And hopefully my last!”

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Featured image credit: New Line Home Entertainment