Ayo Edebiri responds to viral 'After the Hunt' interview moment at Venice and NYFF

Ayo Edebiri has addressed the now-viral moment from a Venice Film Festival interview about After the Hunt, saying she could not care less about the online chatter. The Bear star, who also appears in the Luca Guadagnino-directed film alongside Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield, indicated that she has become less online and even joked she sometimes lies for money. She also suggested the moment resonates with themes in the movie, which centers on a professor (Roberts) reassessing her past after a student (Edebiri) accuses another professor (Garfield) of a serious crime.

The exchange unfolded during a Venice sit-down with Italian journalist Federica Polidoro, where Polidoro asked Roberts and Garfield about the politics of the moment, including #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, and what might be lost in Hollywood after those movements. Polidoro did not pose a direct question to Edebiri. Edebiri later said she viewed some conversations as not meant for her, but she stressed that activism and transformative work remain ongoing and that the world remains charged with issues that require attention. The moment, she added, touched on a broader, human experience that the film also explores.

The film had its Venice premiere in late August and then moved to the United States for its North American premiere at the 63rd New York Film Festival, which ran on Sept. 26, 2025. Roberts and Garfield joined Edebiri for portions of promotional appearances at the festival, which also drew the presence of Chloë Sevigny and director Guadagnino. Reports from those events described a collaborative, high-profile press tour as the cast discussed the movie’s provocative questions about accountability, power, and shifting norms in contemporary Hollywood.

Andrew Garfield and Julia Roberts asserted that movements like #MeToo and Black Lives Matter are still active, and Roberts agreed that the work isn’t finished. Edebiri, while reframing the viral moment, emphasized that the film’s core is about ongoing social change and the human complexity of difficult conversations. Polidoro later addressed online backlash to the interview in a lengthy post, noting that she faced personal attacks after the incident but did not explain why she excluded Edebiri from the question. The Hollywood outlet reached out to both Edebiri and Polidoro for comment.

The post-incident discourse has fed into broader conversations about how interview formats handle sensitive topics and how stars navigate public conversations about accountability. Edebiri’s comments at Venice and New York Film Festival reinforced the film’s themes: that uncomfortable conversations can be a catalyst for change, and that the work to address systemic issues remains ongoing even as cinema engages with provocative material. The production notes describe After the Hunt as a drama about memory, judgment, and the consequences of past actions playing out in the present, a narrative that many viewers may find mirrors real-world debates about responsibility and reform.

As the festival circuit continued, critics and audiences weighed the viral moment against the film’s thematic ambitions. The participants and their team did not publicly retract any statements, but the episode underscored how a single interview can become a cultural touchpoint around ongoing conversations about power, influence, and accountability in Hollywood. The film expectedly enters awards-season conversations, with its Venice premiere providing a platform for discussions about art, politics, and the responsibilities of public figures in a media-saturated era.