Saoirse Ronan has been praised after calling out the big problem with Paul Mescal’s joke during The Graham Norton Show.
The Irish actors took to the famous red sofa on Friday’s (25 October) episode of the BBC show alongside Eddie Redmayne and Denzel Washington.
Graham Norton and his celebrity guests were listening to the Fantastic Beasts star chat about his new series, the Day of the Jackal, where he stars as an elusive assassin.
Redmayne explained how he learned self-defence from a specialist combat expert as part of his preparation for the role, adding how he was shown how to use his mobile phone. And no, not shown how to pull it out to dial 999 but to use it as a weapon and thrust it at an attacker’s throat.
But Mescal joked that if he was in a situation like that, he wouldn’t think to whip out his phone.
Gesturing as if to take his out his pocket, the Gladiator actor joked: “Who is actually going to think about that? If someone actually attacked me, I’m not going to go ‘phone’.”
This got laughter from the audience as Ronan attempted to interject and Norton joined in.
The Irish host reenacted the scenario saying ‘wait one second’ as he began patting over his body, pretending to search for his phone as Mescal joined in with a bam of his imaginary phone.
“That’s a very good point,” Redmayne said as they laughed.
But then in came Ronan with a much better – and pretty iconic – response as she said: “That’s what girls have to think about all the time.”
Saoirse Ronan silenced the men (BBC)
And that certainly silenced the men as they awkwardly mumbled and nodded along in agreement.
“Am I right ladies?” the Little Women star said as the audience broke into applause for her.
The moment soon went viral online as fans thanked Ronan for ‘putting them right’.
Queen sh*t, to be honest (BBC)
Others said they ‘cheered’ when Ronan said it as they added ‘girls and women do think about it’.
“Saoirse Ronan gagging men we love to see it,” another echoed.
Someone else pointed out: “That silence was SO loud.”
Another went on to praise: “It’s great to see actors using their platforms to challenge traditional notions of masculinity and uplift female voices. While they may not fully understand the female experience, their support can foster important conversations and create a more inclusive environment in the industry.”
