An interviewer tried it at the Venice Film Festival, asking Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield about #MeToo and Black Lives Matter while excluding Ayo Edebiri. Instead of staying quiet, she slid in the classiest clapback, and Black social media is here for it.
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Italian reporter Federica Polidoro sat down with Julie Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, and Andrew Garfield to promote their new movie, “After The Hunt.” With the film’s subject matter drawing parallels to the #MeToo movement, the reporter directed a question about these political and social movements to Roberts and Garfield—completely isolating Edebiri.
“Now that the MeToo era and the Black Lives Matter are done, what do we have to expect in Hollywood and what we lost, if we lost something with the political era?” the reporter asked, addressing the questions only to Roberts and Garfield.
Before Roberts and Garfield could respond, Edebiri interjected to provide her own perspective on the question.
“Yeah, I know that’s not for me, and I don’t know if it’s purposeful not for me, I am just curious,” she began. “I don’t think it’s done, I don’t think it’s done at all. I think maybe hashtags might not be used as much, but I do think that there’s work being done by activists, by people, every day, that’s beautiful, important work that’s not finished, that’s really, really, really active – for a reason, because this world is really charged. And that work isn’t finished at all,” she explained.
She went on to explain that, although there may not be as much mainstream coverage or daily headlines since the early days of the movement, the work is far from over.
Social media wasted no time calling out the interviewer for her blatant exclusion and praising Edebiri for her graceful response. “Ayo handled that skillfully, but also who the f**k is this interviewer?” one X user wrote.
Another followed up, “She handled it sooo well. Idk, but whoever it is, should never do an interview ever again.”
The criticism even extended to Threads, where a user posted, “One accusation Italians are not getting away from is their blatant racism towards anybody Black.”
Polidoro later posted an Instagram statement, insisting her question was misunderstood and claiming she reported everyone’s responses for the article. But that did not stop the online dragging of the Italian reporter.
One commenter gave it to her straight: “Your lack of accountability is nauseating. You asked a question that expressly concerned people of color, yet you chose not to ask the only woman of color sitting in front of you. Own it, apologize, and do better.”
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