Sigh. I guess we have to do this. Okay, so by now, you’ve probably heard about the interview drama from the press tour for After the Hunt! The film stars Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, and Julia Roberts in a story about sexual assault and accusations in a campus environment. (If you can believe it, this is the less controversial of the topics surrounding the movie this week!)
Anyway, ArtsLife TV attended the press junket this week and Italian journalist Federica Polidoro had a question about #MeToo and Black Lives Matter. Unfortunately for her, the deployment of this particular line of questioning was flawed at best. The journalist directed the comments towards Garfield (visibly uncomfortable) and Roberts (confused at how exactly we ended up here.) It was not a great moment in the history of the profession.
For fairness, here’s what Polidoro asked: “Now that the #MeToo movement and the Black Lives Matter [movement] are done, what do we have to expect in Hollywood?”
This is all after Roberts asked her to repeat the question. But, from our resident Amazing Spider-Man’s body contortions in the corner, the situation was already pretty darn awkward! Roberts backed up her co-star and Ayo Edebiri took the question anyway, as you would imagine she would.
All you could see of her frustration was a quick laugh before launching into a thoughtful redirection of the question’s framing overall. Garfield tried to put a bow on it at the end, but that was a little bit rough for the journalist in this case.
Well, it was rough, then it got worse once social media got rolling in here. A lot of folks were (read: Understandably!) upset at not only the question and insinuations there, but also the fact that the entire moment was guided by Polidoro to exclude Edebiri from commenting on anything she was stating with that line of questioning.
Federica Polidoro responds to the Ayo Edibiri backlash
On her social media, the journalist drew issue with all of social media making her the main character of the day for such a weird interaction. Her statement casts the people critical of her as “the real racists are those who see racism everywhere and seek to muzzle journalism, limiting freedom of analysis, critical thinking, and the plurality of perspectives.”
About half of that is right? The part about freedom of analysis being limited seems spot-on, and critical thinking is in short supply all around the internet. But, a lot of people pointed out that she asked a question about racism and then got mad at people for having the temerity to critique her assumption that movements are “over” while excluding one of her interview subjects from answering. Especially when the person in question is Ayo Edebiri!
It’s all a bit dizzy, and perfect fodder for the social media age. Instead of having a conversation about the very real issues in After the Hunt, here we sit debating this journalist’s line of questioning. Ask any interviewer, there are questions and moments that you want to have back. You know it almost immediately.
Maybe Polidoro didn’t realize that was a little odd until her phone began levitating this weekend. But, it could be a useful moment of reflection as a journalist instead of calling anyone who questions your iffy line of questioning a “real racist.” Just another day in 2025, which is mercifully entering the last frames.
(featured image: ArtsLife TV)
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