Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Jenny Slate Says Cheating Is Different For Men And Women

Jenny Slate, a feminist favorite of The Schmooze, is once again fighting the patriarchy upon the red carpet.

The actress was in New York City for the premiere of her new movie “Landline” when she explained what she believes is the difference between men and women who cheat.

“I feel that in society, generally when a man cheats, we’re a bit more forgiving because we tend to think men need to satisfy their needs. Whereas if women cheat, they are liars, insidious or insecure,” Slate said. “We have a president now who won an election because he bragged about cheating, lying, and assaulting people, and a woman who lost because she also was untruthful. One was elevated and one was denigrated.”

“Landline” is about two sisters who are brought closer together when they discover that their father might be having an affair with another woman. The movie was directed by Slate’s pal and artistic partner, Gillian Robespierre. The two women collaborated on “Obvious Child” together, Robespierre’s directorial debut about a young woman’s abortion.

Robespierre chimed in on the red carpet as well, saying that, “Most movies, there’s a midlife crisis with a male lead and he cheats on his wife. That’s almost in half of the movies. You still root for him.”

“Landline” will be released in select theaters Friday, July 21st.

Becky Scott is the editor of The Schmooze. Follow her on Twitter, @arr_scott

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.