Bradley Cooper roasted for crying over ‘missing’ Leonard Bernstein – who he never met

Bradley Cooper became the talking point of Hollywood’s award season after his film Maestro was repeatedly snubbed in favour of Oppenheimer (he looked pissed at the Golden Globes, the internet laughed).

And now, in an unearthed interview, Bradley is getting roasted by the Twitter/X timeline all over again for breaking down in tears because he “misses” the composer Leonard Bernstein – who he plays in Maestro – despite never having met him.

In the CBS Sunday Morning interview, which he shared with Leonard Bernstein’s actual blood relatives, Bradley said: “It’s hard to talk about. I don’t know, we, the four of us [himself and Bernstein’s three children], shared something very special, it’s hard to even articulate.”

“He was with me, certainly, throughout the entire time,” Bradley continued. “His energy has somehow found its way to me, and I really do feel like I know him,” he added with tears in his eyes.

After the interview went viral on TikTok and X/Twitter the backlash was intense: “That’s actually an insane thing to say,” one person wrote in the TikTok comments. “Doing that in front of his kids is CRAZY,” another added. “If we give him an Oscar will he stop doing this kind of thing?” a third sincerely questioned.

However, other social media users have now leapt to Bradley Cooper’s defence: “Bradley Cooper somehow became Award Season’s punching bag for genuinely caring about the film he made and the man he portrayed,” one person wrote, while another added: “Being moved by how much an artist work means to you is cringe, I got it, thanks for the heads up.”

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• A winding history of all Bradley Cooper’s big award snubs

• Everything wrong with Bradley Cooper’s insufferable Maestro performance

• Bodysuits and bald caps: Inside Bradley Cooper’s controversial Maestro transformation

Featured image credit via CBS Sunday Morning/Netflix