celebrity

The reporter question that made Blake Lively reply: "Would you ask a man that?"

Blake Lively has no time for your outdated questions about fashion.

While attending Variety’s Power of Women event on Friday – where she was being honoured for her work combatting child pornography – the actress rebuked a reporter who asked her what she was wearing.

“Really? At this event, you’re asking me about my outfit?” Lively responded. “Seriously…would you ask a man that?”

The Gossip Girl star went on to explain she was at the event to talk about her work with the Child Rescue Coalition, not to answer questions she sees as anti-feminist.

“I’m here so we… become more aware, and that we change, and that we build [women up],” she said. “So, you can ask me another question.”

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Later at the event, the 29-year-old delivered a serious and powerful speech about child pornography.

“The kids are getting younger and the content is getting more devastating,” she said, speaking in front of a screen pinpointing the locations of IP addresses currently viewing child pornography. “When a law enforcement officer told me this, I asked, how young are the victims? And he told me infants — and I have a six-month-old daughter.”

You can watch a snippet of her speech here (warning: content might be disturbing to some viewers).

Lively is not the first Hollywood actress to reproach reporters for not asking women more interesting questions on the red carpet. In 2015, before the Oscars, Reese Witherspoon used the hashtag #AskHerMore to encourage journalists to get more creative with questions on carpets other than, “What are you wearing?”

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“This movement #AskHerMore…have you heard of it?” she wrote on Instagram. “It’s meant to inspire reporters to ask creative questions on the red carpet.”

However, there’s often more at play when reporters ask ‘who are you wearing’ on the red carpet. Actresses are often wearing, and marketing, free dresses from designers.

Do you think Blake Lively’s response was appropriate?