Did Katherine Heigl Confuse Afghanistan and Iraq?

The media has typically given Katherine Heigl a pretty hard time. For the most part, she's been criticized for being mean or difficult, but now she's being (perhaps unfairly) critiqued for not knowing her geography. On Thursday, the actress shared a picture from the set of her new NBC drama State of Affairs, captioning the photo "Santa Clarita played the part of Kabul Afghanistan today for State of Affairs. Kinda blew my mind...,"

Unfortunately, the picture appears to be on a set depicting Iraq, as the flags in the background are Iraqi flags. Commenters and some news outlets jumped on the mistake. Though it is a bit embarrassing for Heigl, I also think critics are looking for her to mess up. It was an easy mistake to make, and one that was perhaps not made by her; I doubt that Heigl is solely in charge of her social media accounts.

Heigl wisely shouldered the blame and addressed the criticism in a follow-up post. "Some eagle-eyed fans spotted that the posters in the background of my photo yesterday were from Iraq not Afghanistan. Our secret is out! The sets we use on State of Affairs represent many different countries around the world. We were actually shooting scenes in 'Kabul,' but for the selfie had wandered into 'Iraq' by simply crossing the street. Movie magic, people!"

State of Affairs marks Heigl's first return to the small screen since Grey's Anatomy four years ago. She'll play a CIA analyst on the political drama, which will air in November. Hopefully, people will be able to get over their Heigl prejudice to give the show a shot.

Image: Katherine Heigl/Instagram