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We bet that Natalie Portman thought she was doing a good thing by making a feminist statement on the Oscars red carpet.

For anyone that missed it, along with her stunning Dior dress, the Oscar-winning actress wore a cape which was embroidered with names of eight female directors who she – and many others – felt were snubbed by the Academy this year. No harm, right?

Well, since the Oscars on Sunday night, Natalie Portman has come under fire for her protest. Critics have called her “hypocritical”, as her own production company hasn’t hired any female directors either – apart from herself.

The ever-opinionated Rose McGowan wasted no time in calling Natalie Portman out…

“Some thoughts on Natalie Portman and her Oscar ‘protest.’ The kind of protest that gets rave reviews from the mainstream media for its bravery. Brave? No, not by a long shot. More like an actress acting the part of someone who cares. As so many of them do,” Rose McGowan’s lengthy Facebook post began.

“I find Portman’s type of activism deeply offensive to those of us who actually do the work. I’m not writing this out of bitterness, I am writing out of disgust.

“Natalie, you have worked with two female directors in your very long career- one of them was you. You have a production company that has hired exactly one female director- you. What is it with actresses of your ilk? You ‘A-listers’ could change the world if you’d take a stand instead of being the problem. Yes, you, Natalie. You are the problem. Lip service is the problem. Fake support of other women is the problem.

“There is no law that says you need to hire women, work with women, or support women. By all means, you do you. But I am saying stop pretending you’re some kind of champion for anything other than yourself.

“Until you and your fellow actresses get real, do us all a favor and hang up your embroidered activist cloak, it doesn’t hang right.”

Safe to say that Rose McGowan did not hold back!

Naturally, Natalie Portman felt the need to respond to Rose McGowan, and anyone else who shared similar views…

“I agree with Ms. McGowan that it is inaccurate to call me ‘brave’ for wearing a garment with women’s names on it. Brave is a term I more strongly associate with actions like those of the women who have been testifying against Harvey Weinstein the last few weeks, under incredible pressure,” Natalie said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

“I have had the experience a few times of helping get female directors hired on projects which they were then forced out of because of the conditions they faced at work.

“So I want to say, I have tried, and I will keep trying. While I have not yet been successful, I am hopeful that we are stepping into a new day.”

Will Natalie Portman be “successful” and work with more female directors in the near future? Only time will tell…