Jodie Foster has outlined exactly why Gen Z are hard to work with. Is she right?

Jodie Foster is back in a big way and sharing some divisive opinions. 

Foster led last year's film NYAD about long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad and will front the highly anticipated fourth season of True Detective: Night Country.

Watch the trailer for True Detective: Night Country. Post continues after video. 

While on the promotional trail, the Hollywood icon has made some rather brutal comments about her experience working with Gen Z. “They’re really annoying, especially in the workplace,” Foster told The Guardian in a new interview. 

“They’re like, ‘Nah, I’m not feeling it today, I’m gonna come in at 10:30 a.m.’"  

The Panic Room actor went on to say that she also didn't appreciate Gen Z's lack of care with their grammar. "Like, in emails, I’ll tell them this is all grammatically incorrect, did you not check your spelling? And they’re like, ‘Why would I do that, isn’t that kind of limiting?’”

We can only presume Foster is saying that Gen Z believes that typing grammatically correct emails 'limits' their self-expression, which is very funny in itself.

Foster isn't the first person to express this kind of disdain for the younger generation. From assumptions they all aspire to be TikTok influencers, to trends like 'quiet quitting' and 'girl rotting' classifying Gen Z as lazy, there's plenty of online discourse that takes aim at people born from 1997 and onwards. 

But that doesn't mean they're happy to take the criticism. 

In response to a Pop Crave post on X about her comments, one user wrote, "Isn't it possible that Jodie Foster's frustration with Gen Z's work style is a result of a generation gap, and perhaps there's value in their unconventional approach to work??"

Another wrote on X that "Jodie Foster correcting peoples [sic] grammar in emails is literally all I need to know about her."

Yes, the post was grammatically incorrect. Yes, this does annoy me. But either way, it's not exactly fair to paint an entire generation of people as having a non-existent work ethic. 

Whether Foster's words have credence or not, it's worth noting what the actor said in the rest of her wide-ranging interview, especially about mentoring the younger generation of women in Hollywood. 

“I do a lot of reaching out to young actresses. I’m compelled. Because it was hard growing up," she said.

Foster has taken a special interest in young British actor, Bella Ramsey, who burst into stardom as the 20-year-old non-binary star of The Last of Us. Jodie asked Bella to introduce her at the ELLE's Women in Hollywood Celebration.

“I reached out to Bella, because we’d never met, and said, ‘I want you to introduce me at this thing’, which is a wonderful event about actors and people in the movies, but is also very much a fashion thing," Foster said. 

Bella Ramsey and Jodie Foster at ELLE's Women in Hollywood Celebration. Image: Getty. 

"There are other ways of being a woman, and it’s really important for people to see that. And Bella, who gave the best speech, was wearing the most perfect suit, beautifully tailored, and a middle parting and no makeup.”

Foster married her wife Alexandra Hedison in 2014 but has largely stayed silent on her sexuality over the years, and said she admires Bella for living as their true self. 

"I did the best I could for my generation. I was very busy understanding where I fitted in and where I wanted to be in terms of feminism. But my lens wasn’t wide enough. I lived in an incredibly segregated world," she said.

“Because we weren’t free. Because we didn’t have freedom."

Feature image: Getty.