Even when Brie Larson is literally sandwiched between two men at a press conference, she’s somehow the one that has to answer a question about Johnny Depp. At the conference for the Cannes Film Festival, Larson, who is a juror this year, was asked a lot of questions were asked about superhero movies and budgets. And then a journalist decided that because Larson has been outspoken about the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, she was the one—and the only one—to ask about the Johnny Depp movie Jeanne du Barry.
“As a sort of outspoken and very vocal advocate for Times Up and Me Too, I’m curious how you feel about Johnny Depp’s film opening the festival and do you plan to see it?” Larson was asked. You can see the confusion on her face as to why she was being asked about this in the first place when there were other jurors there. She said as much and added that she doesn’t know if she’s going to see it and doesn’t know how she’ll feel if she does.
But the point of this is the why. Why ask just Larson when there is a panel of people in front of you and they all could comment on it, including Larson?
This was a move to get a headline. It’s that simple. It wasn’t about actually caring where Larson stood on this, it was about knowing that Larson talking about Johnny Depp would get you a popular article because the internet loves to hate on Brie Larson. And if that was not the intention, then it is unacceptable that the person asking this of Larson did not think about that.
Because at the end of the day, anyone on that panel could have answered this question. So why just ask Brie Larson about it?
People want to villainize Larson
From the moment that Brie Larson asked for more women journalists to have a spot on the press tour for Captain Marvel, internet misogynists have made it their life goal to slam Larson every chance they get. So asking Larson specifically about this when she was not the sole person making the decision feels targeted.
Yes, Larson has been very vocal about her support of Me Too and the Times Up movement. But that doesn’t mean that the rest of the jury should be left out of this question. Men especially need to be asked these questions more often! Plain and simple, this felt like a way to capitalize on the internet’s warped vendetta against Larson. Asking her this question is putting a target on her back for the people who don’t already like her and throwing her into a very toxic situation online among Depp’s supporters while allowing every other juror on that panel to avoid the issue.
(featured image: Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
