Los Angeles: 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.