After a breakout turn in The Wolf Of Wall Street, Margot Robbie has been a star on the rise. The talented actress is one to watch this summer, starring in two high profile blockbusters, The Legend Of Tarzan and Suicide Squad. To promote these two roles, Robbie was the August cover girl for Vanity Fair, with Vinyl co-creator and frequent VF contributor Rich Cohen conducting the interview. Unfortunately, things got off-track almost immediately. Cohen seemed to be hung up on Robbie’s (considerable) physical attributes, and decided to convey his awe-struck horniness in an unrelentingly skeevy way. Consider his lede:
America is so far gone, we have to go to Australia to find a girl next door. In case you’ve missed it, her name is Margot Robbie. She is 26 and beautiful, not in that otherworldly, catwalk way but in a minor knock-around key, a blue mood, a slow dance. She is blonde but dark at the roots. She is tall but only with the help of certain shoes. She can be sexy and composed even while naked but only in character. As I said, she is from Australia. To understand her, you should think about what that means.
Ok, dude. He continues:
Because Robbie is new on the scene, reporters are trying to fix her with a narrative. The job of the celebrity journalist: peg ’em so it’s not only as if you know ’em but always have known ’em or someone just like ’em. But Robbie is too fresh to be pegged. Less being than becoming. The most recent theory has her as a celebrity uncomfortable with fame. A case of buyer’s remorse.
Once again, instead of focusing on a promising young actresses talent, she is reduced to her sex appeal. As can be expected, Twitter had a whole host of opinions regarding this uncomfortable piece, from the description of Robbie as “a second-semester freshman” to the simplistic explanation of Australia.
https://twitter.com/MildlyAmused/status/750742601825914880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/rachsyme/status/750783942136045568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/rgay/status/750762148695912448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
the Margot Robbie profile is actually very good if you just pretend it is about my parents' dog, Robbie pic.twitter.com/UBWELBrhnI
— Lindsay Zoladz (@lindsayzoladz) July 6, 2016
"Margot Robbie is from Australia. They're in a different time zone there. Also, she's blonde and I have a boner." – Rich Cohen, Vanity Fair
— Alanna (@alannallama) July 6, 2016
https://twitter.com/modernistwitch/status/750749181598437376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/gilbertjasono/status/750777381317644288
This paragraph is a declaration of war https://t.co/Cve3eq9r24 pic.twitter.com/iSpO72gzKV
— David Mack (@davidmackau) July 6, 2016
VANITY FAIR: Australia is like America 50 years ago
AUSTRALIA: Your banking system largely involves people using *cheques* to pay for shit— adam (@adamjmoussa) July 6, 2016
The quietly awful thing that the Vanity Fair piece did is steer the conversation away from Margot Robbie's talent, which is what matters.
— Evan Littman (@elittman88) July 6, 2016
https://twitter.com/ohkayewhatever/status/750746197053280257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Let it be known: if you’re going to patronize a talented actress with your sexism, you should be ready for Twitter to drag you.