Don’t mess with soap opera stars, especially Eric Braeden.
The daytime TV legend, who’s starred as Victor Newman on “The Young and the Restless” since 1980, didn’t hold back while reacting to Eva Longoria’s recent “derogatory remarks” about the industry during her appearance on “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?”
“EVA LONGORIA: you just made derogatory remarks about daytime actors!” Braeden, 81, tweeted on Sunday. “You simply weren’t good enough to survive the pressures of this medium! You were very lucky to get on that ‘housewife’ show! You did one show in 8-12 days, with mediocre but salacious dialogue!”
The actor went on to defend daytime stars in a follow-up tweet.
“Our actresses would run rings around you!! And they did then!! From Robert [De Niro] to whoever they all are, many of them started in the medium you denigrate! It shows a complete lack of class!!,” he wrote.
Braeden’s comments come after Longoria’s interview with journalist Chris Wallace aired on Sunday, in which she recounted her experience playing Isabella Braña on the long-running CBS soap opera amid its 50th anniversary.
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“When I got ‘Young and the Restless’, it didn’t pay enough for me to live off being an actor. So I continued being a headhunter and Young and the Restless,” she said. “And I would hide the fact I was on ‘Young and the Restless’ to my clients, because they didn’t want, like, a dumb actress handing their accounts.”
“And one time one of my clients was like, ‘You look like a girl I’ve seen on a soap opera.’ And I go, ‘No, I don’t know who that is,'” Longoria, 48, recalled. “I was like the opposite of a publicist’s dream. I was like, ‘Don’t tell anybody I’m on that show’ because I was still making more money on my day job.”
READ MORE: Eric Braeden Reveals The Origin Story Behind His Famous ‘Young And The Restless’ Moustache
While some fans defended Longoria, Braeden responded by noting that “the whole tenor of that segment was one of embarrassment about her stint in ‘Y&R’.”
“When people who have not made it in the [daytime TV] medium or have no idea what it is about say pejorative things about it, I get pissed off!” he continued. “Because I’m one of few people in it who have done it all, from theater to films to loads of nighttime guest star roles! I know what I’m talking about!'”
While replying to another user, the Emmy Award-winning actor called the soap medium “the hardest medium for an actor, PERIOD!!!,” noting that he’ll “go after” anyone who belittles it.
“Be effing proud of it!!!,” he added.
