Ayo Edebiri‘s response to a strange interview moment went viral over the weekend while she was promoting After the Hunt with co-stars Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield at the Venice Film Festival. Over the weekend, the trio of actors sat with ArtsLife TV, when the interviewer directed a question about Black Lives Matter and #MeToo to Roberts and Garfield, excluding Edebiri altogether.
In her questioning, the Italian journalist wondered what “to expect in Hollywood after the #MeToo movement and the Black Lives Matter are done,” and later questioned “if we lost something with the politically correct era.”
Roberts was the first to respond, saying, “Can you repeat that? And with your sunglasses on, I can’t tell which of us you’re talking to,” before the interviewer repeated that the question was solely for Garfield and Roberts.
Ayo Edebiri eloquently talks about the political state of the hashtag “Me Too” & the Black Lives Matter movement after being deliberately excluded from the question by an interviewer for their ‘After the Hunt’ press tour.
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) September 7, 2025
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“I know that that’s not for me, and I don’t know if it’s purposeful if it’s not for me … [but] I don’t think it’s done,” Edebiri said, clearly shocked by her exclusion. “I don’t think it’s done at all. 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 active for a reason because this world’s really charged. And that work isn’t finished at all.”
Garfield showed support for Edibiri’s answer before Edebiri added, “Maybe there’s not mainstream coverage in the way that there might have been, daily headlines in the way that it might have been eight or so years ago, but I don’t think it means that the work is done. That’s what I would say.”
Following the interview, the journalist, Federica Polidoro, made a statement on her Instagram that seemed to only make matters worse. Polidoro claimed she was subjected to “personal insults and attacks” for the question she asked, saying she was being “unjustly accused” of racism.
“To date, I am not aware of any protocol that dictates the order in which questions must be asked in an interview. Censoring or delegitimizing questions considered ‘uncomfortable’ does not fall within the practice of democracy,” she wrote, before adding that she interviews “people of every background and ethnicity” all the time, and that “the real racists are those who see racism everywhere.”
From Rolling Stone US
