Sometimes the most powerful moment in a press junket isn’t the movie pitch—it’s the silence before someone decides to cut through the noise.
Ayo Edebiri’s response during an interview for After the Hunt has gone viral after a journalist excluded her from a question about #MeToo and Black Lives Matter. Sitting alongside co-stars Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield, the 29-year-old Bear star was visibly stunned when Italian journalist Federica Polidoro asked only Roberts and Garfield “what to expect in Hollywood after the #MeToo movement and the Black Lives Matter are done.”
Garfield turned nervously in his chair, Roberts asked for clarification. Polidoro doubled down, specifying the question wasn’t meant for Edebiri. That’s when Edebiri stepped in.
“I know that that’s not for me, and I don’t know if it’s purposeful it’s not for me, but I just am curious,” she said. “I don’t think it’s done. I don’t think it’s done at all.”
Her answer reframed the room. Instead of treating activism as a finished chapter, Edebiri reminded the interviewer—and the internet—that the work is ongoing, led daily by people outside the spotlight. “Maybe hashtags aren’t used as much, maybe the headlines aren’t as constant as they were eight years ago, but that doesn’t mean the work is done,” she added.
Roberts and Garfield nodded in agreement, backing her words. The clip spread fast across social media, where Edebiri was praised for not just taking space when denied it, but doing so with precision and grace.
Polidoro, facing backlash, later defended herself on Instagram, claiming the phrasing of the question was misunderstood and stressing that her family is “multi-ethnic, matriarchal, and feminist.” She added she may seek legal protection against online attacks.
The controversy arrives just weeks before the release of Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt (October 10), a psychological thriller where Roberts plays a professor navigating sexual abuse allegations involving her student, played by Edebiri, and a colleague, played by Garfield.
But on the press tour, it’s Edebiri—not Roberts or Garfield—who has become the story.
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Last modified: September 15, 2025
