Jason Derulo Defends Cats and Slams Critics, Calls the Film a ‘Brave Piece of Art’

TMZ recently chatted with singer Jason Derulo, who stars in the new movie Cats as Rum Tum Tugger. Derulo clapped back at critics who savaged the film upon its release.

The TMZ reporter asked, “Did you think CGI’ing your junk out would get better reviews?” That question was referring to a recent interview with Andy Cohen for SiriusXM, where Derulo stated, “They CGI-ed the dick out. I noticed that,” he told Andy Cohen on the host’s SiriusXM radio show today. “125 percent. I can’t see it in the trailer, for sure. I’m not surprised. That could’ve been a new thing. To make it as catlike as possible, that’s what it’s about.” Jason Derulo responded with the following to TMZ:

“Reviews don’t matter, man. Reviews don’t matter. At the end of the day, people are gonna go see it, and it’s going to be a deportation to another dimension. It’s an incredible, brave piece of art. And it always been that way. When it came out on Broadway, people were saying, ‘What is this? It’s something totally different.’ But we — any time that you defy what an art form is, any time you defy rules, there’s gonna be some pushback, obviously, but it’s an incredible piece of art done by some of the best people in the world. Tom Hooper’s a class act. I don’t think there’s another director out there that’s more classy than he is. So yeah, I’m just excited for the people to actually see it. Reviewers, what do they know? Have they made a film ever in their life?”

Cats is out now in theaters. The film only managed to make a $6.6 million opening weekend. It reportedly had a production budget of $95 million before prints and advertising. A new version of the film with “improved visual effects” was even provided to theater exhibitors just days after its initial release.