The Italian journalist under fire online for a controversial #MeToo and Black Lives Matter question at the Venice Film Festival is now defending herself.
Federica Polidoro sat down with “After the Hunt” stars Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, and Ayo Edebiri for an interview to promote the project. One moment from the conversation, posted to the ArtsLifeTV YouTube channel, has gone viral, with critics accusing Polidoro of being “racist” for directing one of her questions specifically to Roberts and Garfield, who are white, while being accused of excluding Edebiri, who is black.
“Now that the #MeToo era and the Black Lives Matters are done, what do we have to expect in Hollywood and what we lost, we lost something with the politically correct era?” she asked.
Despite the question not being directed at her, Edebiri jumped in to answer it.
“I know that that’s not for me, and I don’t know if it’s purposeful that it’s not for me, but I just am curious,” the star of “The Bear” said.
She went on, “I don’t think it’s done. I don’t think it’s done at all,” as Roberts chimed in with her agreement.
Edebiri went on: “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. Maybe if there’s not, like, 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.”
Garfield chimed in, agreeing that the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements “are still absolutely alive, as you say, just maybe not as labeled or covered or magnified as much.”
The exchange triggered widespread backlash online, with many commenters accusing Poidoro of asking an insensitive question while being dismissive of the only black actor participating in the interview.
Following the resulting backlash, Polidoro took to Instagram to defend herself in a lengthy post.
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“I am not aware of any protocol that dictates the order in which questions must be asked in an interview,” the journalist wrote in part. “Censoring or delegitimizing questions considered ‘uncomfortable’ does not fall within the practice of democracy.”
“To those who unjustly accuse me of racism, I would like to clarify that in my work I have interviewed people of every background and ethnicity, and my own family is multi-ethnic, matriarchal, and feminist, with a significant history of immigration,” she continued.
“I have collaborated for over 20 years with numerous national and international publications of all political orientations, always approaching my work with openness and professional rigor. In my view, 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.”
“After the Hunt” is a psychological thriller about a college professor (Roberts) whose student (Edebiri) makes an accusation against one of her colleagues (Garfield). The film’s tagline is, “Not everything is supposed to make you uncomfortable.”