Emma Thompson Tried to Keep a Waiter From Being Fired

Emma Thompson might not like selfies, but she also isn’t looking to get anyone in trouble for requesting one. The Oscar winner, 60, was dining at an upscale restaurant in London with a group of celebrity friends over the weekend when their waiter, a senior staffer, asked one of her dinner pals if he could take a picture with them, PEOPLE confirms. Thompson declined on her friend’s behalf, adding that she did not want to impose on her guests, U.K. newspaper The Sunday Times first reported. The waiter was then suspended until further notice. The owner of Brown’s, the restaurant, told the Times it had “a strict policy of respecting guests’ privacy which applies to all staff members”. But when the paper reached out to Thompson for comment, the outlet reports the actress was so horrified that she called the hotel and urged the restaurant not to suspend the waiter for his request. It’s unclear whether the restaurant reinstated the waiter after Thompson’s intervention, as the high-end establishment is not addressing the situation any further. The hotel’s managing director Stuart Johnson told BBC News: “Caring for the privacy and wellbeing of both team members and guests, we are unable to make further comment on this matter.” Thompson has made her stance on selfies known before and slammed them in a 2014 interview with The Belfast Telegraph. “I wouldn’t dream of taking a selfie with anyone. God almighty. That’s to take narcissism to its unspeakable extremes. No, get a life everyone.”

Facebook