Hugh Laurie Apologizes After Scathing 'House' Post Goes Viral: 'I Was Drunk'

Hugh Laurie served up an apology saying he was "drunk" after he went after a British journalist who criticized his show House, which aired from 2004-2021, for being monotonous.

"I’m sorry if people have been having a go at you because of my tweet," Laurie, 66, wrote on X on Monday, June 8. "Not at all the plan. I was very slightly drunk and already upset about something that had nothing to do with you."

Laurie also faced backlash for his post.

"If it’s any comfort, I got it in the neck, too," Laurie wrote. "I’m a thin-skinned t***, apparently, even though it wasn’t my skin. I was sticking up for the writers who I adored."

He continued, "Obviously I shouldn’t have cited Bach/Kahlo/Moore - asking for trouble - and would have done better to go for the 10,000 blues songs written around the same 12 bar chord structure. I’ve listened to most of them and will keep doing so. Because we love what we love."

In response, the journalist, Janet Murray, wrote on X, "Plot twist - but full respect."

Later, she wrote, "Thank you. ‘Having a go’ is probably an understatement but I appreciate the apology and recognize you may have been sticking up for colleagues. For what it’s worth, I like the show - despite the repetition - and I like you in it."

She continued, "The response to my initial post was so warm-hearted and affectionate towards House, which perhaps made what followed all the more surprising. Anyway, no hard feelings. I’m hoping you’ll be back for another series of Tehran."

The actor issued the apology after Murray posted an article titled "What I learned from my online fight with Hugh Laurie" on UnHerd.

"Because while his witty riposte was genuinely amusing, one point I make in the piece is that it was shared with his 1.2 million followers on X," she wrote on the social media platform. "I have around 38,000. That creates something of an imbalance - particularly given that the responses to my original post were overwhelmingly warm-hearted and affectionate towards the show."

She added, "The result has been some fairly horrific trolling. It turns out House fans are even more abusive than trans activists (and that’s saying something). I have enough experience of the media to take it on the chin, as the saying goes. But someone without my background might have found the experience far more distressing."

Her original post took the actor to task for the content of his signature show.

"Late to the party, but I've started watching Season 1 of House," she wrote on X Saturday, June 6. "Same narrative every episode: Patient has mysterious illness. Hugh Laurie (House) gets diagnosis wrong. Patient nearly dies."

She continued, "Hugh Laurie gets diagnosis wrong again. Gets threatened with being fired. Patient nearly dies again. Hugh Laurie has last-minute leftfield idea. Gets diagnosis right. Doesn't get fired. Eight seasons of this?"

On Sunday, June 7, Laurie fired back on X, "Thanks for your critique, Janet. We actually tried a couple of episodes where House (Hugh Laurie) (please put the brackets in the right place) gets it right first time, but they were only six minutes long. NBC weren’t happy. Then we tried some where House never gets it right and the patient dies. The audience wasn’t happy."

He continued, "One could apply your trenchant analysis to other art forms: JS Bach wrote 30 Goldberg variations on the same chord structure; Frida Kahlo painted 50 portraits of herself; Henry Moore, what?? The point is, or was, variations on a theme; if all you see is hospital, medical blah blah, then it wasn’t meant for you. Nonetheless, I look forward to your first novel!"

Laurie has been married to wife Joanne since 1989.

They are parents to three children, including Charles Laurie, 37, Rebecca Laurie, 32, and William Laurie, 25.