Saoirse Ronan applauded for sassy reaction to self-defense joke: 'That's what girls have to think about'

Saoirse Ronan isn’t afraid to deliver brutal honesty — no matter how famous the recipient.

On Friday, Oct. 25, the actress’ blunt attitude led to a viral clip when she shut down the panel of Hollywood men who joined her for a visit to The Graham Norton Show. Ronan was sharing the couch with Paul Mescal, Eddie Redmayne, and Denzel Washington, when she offered a sobering reminder about the threat of violence that plagues girls and women around the world.

The viral moment came when Redmayne recalled some of the physical training he endured for his role as an assassin in the upcoming miniseries, The Day of the Jackal. Among the techniques he learned was "how you can use your phone if someone’s attacking you.”

He explained that he was taught to shove “the butt of your phone” into the attacker’s neck. Before he finished, Mescal and host Graham Norton quickly jumped in to poke fun at the technique.

"Who is actually going to think about that?” Mescal asked with a laugh. “If someone attacks me, I’m not gonna go, ‘Phone!’"

Acting it out, Norton gestured to an imaginary attacker and quipped, “Hang on a second,” before jokingly fumbling for his phone. 

The moment earned laughter from all three men on the panel with Redmayne agreeing, “That’s a very good point.”

Though Ronan smiled, she used the pause in conversation to offer an alternative perspective: “That’s what girls have to think about all the time,” she reminded them. Amid cheering from the crowd, she added,  “Am I right, ladies?”

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Her honest remark was met with silence from the four men, while the audience applauded Ronan in earnest. On social media, the clip earned similar reverence as fans praised the four-time Oscar nominee for her sassy response.

"Saoirse Ronan is a queen,” one commenter wrote, “Men need a reminder what it’s like being a woman so they can appreciate their privilege. The silence after she said that speaks volumes.”

Another joked about the actor’s reactions, writing, “I keep coming back to this. their smiles falling. the silence. nothing brings me more joy in this world. Beautiful. do it again.”

Ronan is currently in the midst of celebrating two film releases: The Outrun, based on journalist Amy Liptrot's 2016 memoir of the same name, and Blitz, the Steve McQueen-directed film that sees her portray the mother of a 9-year-old boy in World War II London who send her child to safety in the English countryside.