Joey King Reacts to Jacob Elordi’s ‘Unfortunate’ Criticism of ‘The Kissing Booth’

Joey King is addressing Jacob Elordi‘s Kissing Booth criticism. After Elordi slammed the popular Netflix trilogy as “ridiculous,” his former co-star, who played his onscreen love interest, Elle Evans, in the films, spoke out in defense of the movies.

“I think it’s unfortunate anyone would feel that way,” King, who’s also Elordi’s real-life ex, tells Variety. “I had a great time making those movies no matter what anyone says.”

Taylor Zakhar Perez, who appeared as Marco in the original film’s sequels, previously offered a similar take as King, telling the same outlet that it’s “a shame” his former co-star feels the way he does.

“I thought it was a shame because to my knowledge, everybody else had such a wonderful experience. It’s a shame that was his experience on the set. Especially when those movies came out, it was a time when we really needed something like that,” he said, alluding to the pandemic. “I know from our fan interactions, getting stopped everywhere I go, what Kissing Booth means to people and what it brought them during such a dark time. I guess the silver lining is he still made people laugh and feel good.”

The drama began when Elordi called the films, which he starred in as Noah Flynn, “ridiculous” in an interview with GQ, adding that the experience of making them made him feel “dead inside.”

“I didn’t want to make those movies before I made those movies,” he told the outlet. “Those movies are ridiculous. They’re not universal. They’re an escape.”

Elordi softened his stance later, telling Variety of the films, “I’m incredibly grateful to everybody in it.”

The Kissing Booth premiered in 2018 and spawned two sequels, which were released in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

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