“Kissing Booth” Star Taylor Zakhar Perez Responds to Jacob Elordi Slamming Franchise: 'It's a Shame'

"I guess the silver lining is he still made people laugh and feel good," Perez said

Taylor Zakhar Perez and his The Kissing Booth co-star Jacob Elordi have varying opinions regarding the hit Netflix trilogy.

At GQ’s Men of the Year party at Bar Marmont in West Hollywood on Thursday, Perez, 31, spoke to Variety about Elordi’s comments in the GQ cover story from earlier this week, in which Elordi referred to the movies as “ridiculous.”

“I thought it was a shame because, to my knowledge, everybody else had such a wonderful experience,” he said of the Euphoria actor, 26.

“It’s a shame that was his experience on the set," Perez continued. "Especially when those movies came out, it was a time when we really needed something like that.”

Perez continued, “I know from our fan interactions, getting stopped everywhere I go, what Kissing Booth means to people and what it brought them during such a dark time. I guess the silver lining is he still made people laugh and feel good.”

The first film in the rom-com franchise was released in 2018. Two sequels followed in 2020 and 2021 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the movies, Elordi starred as bad boy football star Noah Flynn — love interest to a quirky Elle Evans (Joey King). Perez joined the cast for the second film as Marco Peña, the new kid at school who started a crazy love triangle centered around Evans. Perez also returned for the third installment.

Related: Joey King Will 'Never Regret' 'Kissing Booth' Movies 'No Matter What Anyone Says'

“Those movies are ridiculous. They’re not universal. They’re an escape,” Elordi told GQ for the 2023 Men of the Year Issue.

He added that signing on to do three of the films almost felt like “a trap” because “it can become 15 for them, none for you. You have no original ideas and you’re dead inside. So it’s a fine dance."

Elordi said he wasn’t oblivious to how his comments were being perceived, but felt it was important to remain true to his beliefs.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“How is caring about your output pretentious?” he said, adding, “But not caring, and knowingly feeding people s---, knowing that you’re making money off of people’s time, which is literally the most valuable thing that they have. How is that the cool thing?”

Instead of continuing down the rom-com path with projects like The Kissing Booth, Elordi stated how he was “so happy” to work on films that pushed him creatively such as Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla and Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn.

Related: Jacob Elordi Admits He Mostly Knew About Elvis Presley from Lilo & Stitch Before Playing Singer in Priscilla

He’d also previously opened up to GQ in August 2022 about the Elvis Presley biopic. Elordi admitted he looked at the “Hound Dog” hitmaker in a new light after buying Peter Guralnick's Presley biography Last Train to Memphis.

"I was just like, damn, Elvis Presley wanted to be James Dean. He wanted to be Marlon Brando. I've researched almost every actor from that time period, and I passed [Elvis] off as an entertainer and singer," he said. "But then he was an actor. "

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.