Paul Mescal Addresses Saoirse Ronan’s Viral Women’s Safety Comments

Paul Mescal has nothing but praise for Saoirse Ronan after their recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show.

Mescal, 28, was asked if he was surprised by the reaction to his now-viral interaction with Ronan, 30, regarding women’s safety and self-defense on the Friday, November 15, episode of RTE’s The Late Late Show.

“No, I don’t believe we were surprised, because you’re like, as you said, you’re on a talk show like this, and you’re kind of just talking,” Mescal told host Patrick Kielty.

“I’m not surprised that the message received as much attention [as] it got, because it’s massively important and I’m sure you’ve had Saoirse on the show,” he added. “She’s quite often, more often than not, the most intelligent person in the room.”

He continued, “But I think she was spot on, hit the nail on the head, and it’s also good that messages like that are kind of gaining traction, like that’s a conversation that we should absolutely be having on a daily basis.”

Ronan appeared on an October 25 episode of The Graham Norton Show as the only woman among a panel of men, which included her Foe costar Mescal, Denzel Washington and Eddie Redmayne.

As Redmayne, 42, discussed training for his role as an assassin in The Day of the Jackal and how he was taught to use a phone as a weapon in an attack. At the time, Mescal responded by joking, “Who’s actually going to think about that, though? If someone attacked me, I’m not going to go, ‘phone.’”

As the men chuckled, Ronan was quick to reply, “That’s what girls have to think about all the time. Am I right ladies?” receiving applause from the crowd.

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“The reaction has been wild. It’s definitely not something that I had expected,” Ronan said during an October 30 appearance on The Ryan Tubridy Show on Virgin Radio UK. “I do think there’s something really telling about the society that we’re in right now and about how open women want to be with the men in their lives.”

In the interview, Ronan noted that Mescal is one of her “very dear friends,” and noted that the moment on Graham Norton, while in a public forum, was similar to a conversation she would have had at a dinner with friends. “I will always make the point that, well, this is actually an experience that we go through every single day, 100 percent,” she shared.

“I think the fact that there was a moment like that that happened on a show like Graham Norton, which is something that the entire nation channels in to watch and even overseas, it’s something that people tune into,” Ronan continued. “It seems to have had an accessibility which seems to have really gained traction, which I think is amazing.”

She added, “It’s opening a conversation and again, hopefully it’s allowing more and more women to just be like, ‘Well, yeah, actually, let’s talk about our experience.’”