Joey King fires back at Jacob Elordi’s ‘Kissing Booth’ criticism

Actress Joey King isn’t too impressed with her Kissing Booth co-star Jacob Elordi after he criticised the Netflix film trilogy in a recent interview.

Elordi, who played Noah in the rom-com films, spoke poorly of the “ridiculous” rom-com during a GQ Men of the Year cover story last month, claiming that he “didn’t want to make those movies.”

Now, his co-star King, who starred in all three films as Elle, has expressed her disappointment.

“I think it’s unfortunate anyone would feel that way,” she told Variety while attending a Balenciaga fashion show on Saturday (2 December).

“I had a great time making those movies no matter what anyone says.”

Elordi, who has outgrown the Netflix teen-movie genre and gone on to earn critical acclaim for his performances in films like Priscilla and Saltburn, made headlines last month when he criticised the Kissing Booth trilogy.

In the film series, which gave Elordi his big break, the Aussie actor played bad boy high school senior Noah, who Elle (Joey King) winds up falling for. Their romance gets complicated when Elle’s best friend and Noah’s younger brother Lee (Joel Courtney) finds out that the two are seeing each other.

As part of his interview with GQ, Elordi suggests that he always knew those films weren’t going to be his thing, but he needed an acting job.

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

Elsewhere in the interview, Elordi commented on the famous Hollywood trope of “one for them, one for me,” arguing that “that one’s a trap as well, because it can become 15 for them, none for you.”

He said: “You have no original ideas and you’re dead inside. So it’s a fine dance,” he replies. “My ‘one for them,’ I’ve done it.”

Joey King isn’t the only one who has expressed disappointment over Elordi’s Kissing Booth criticism.

Taylor Zakhar Perez, who played Marco Peña in The Kissing Booth 2, also defended the films.

“I thought it was a shame because, to my knowledge, everybody else had such a wonderful experience,” Perez told Variety at the Men of the Year party.

“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. 

“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.”

When asked about those comments, Elordi told the publication that he hadn’t heard from anyone in the cast directly, but added: “I’m incredibly grateful to everybody in it.”