LOS ANGELES: American actress Patricia Arquette has blamed her own “lack of clarity” for the backlash she received after speaking out about the gender pay gap at this year’s Academy Awards. The 47-year-old railed against gender inequality in her acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actress at the 87th Academy Awards, but says that her “wording was stupid” in comments afterwards in which she said gay people and people of colour needed to fight for women. “I blame myself for my stupid wording that night when I was calling for male activists to have our backs and remember women, to support the women’s movement and to include women in the conversation,” Arquette told hollywoodreporter.com. “I was talking about the really devastating consequences of the women’s movement stalling out. It was my own lack of clarity backstage that made some women feel left out or slighted. This of all things makes me sad, because they are my heroes. “Since the speech, I have learned a lot more about the feminist movement and how women of colour have been left out of the process. I understand that more now. I am really sad that I may have added to their feeling of being excluded,” she added.