When Cara Delevingne appeared on Good Day Sacramento it's unlikely she was geared up for what was ultimately an unprofessional and plain nasty character assassination. Cara was on the show to talk about her role in upcoming moviemovie Paper Towns, yet the anchors managed to turn the interview into a challenge to her alleged uncooperative behaviour.
From the outset it was obvious that Cara was exhausted and slightly disorientated but was trying her best to answer the interviewers’ facile questions and even inject a bit of quirky sarcastic British humour.
The presenters decided to pounce on this and proceeded to rudely insinuate that she was finding her work schedule too much and asking how she was able to 'focus' on several projects.
The worst part of the interview came when Cara was told to "Take a nap, maybe get a red bull," as the interview was awkwardly wrapped up. However, the humiliation continued even after the interview had finished, with one anchor exclaiming "She was in a mood!" This attitude ties in with the popular media conception that attractive women, in particular models, are soulless divas, too unintelligent to be taken seriously and therefore rife for mockery and patronising.
It is just this kind of undermining of young women, which attempts to make them look like they can’t cope, then castigating them for a perfectly fallible human reaction to unfounded criticism, that highlights the innate sexism of the mediawho constantly attempt to make women look less capable.
In addition, the challenge to Cara as being moody was a mean spirited gendered attack, in keeping with juvenile stereotypes of women as emotionally fragile.
Compare this to Robert Downey Junior’s angry exit from an interview in April this year when questioned about his past substance abuse and relationship with his father. Downey Junior was right to be offended and cut the interview short, he is after all a human being who deserves respect and personal privacy.
What is interesting, is the general fanfare and figurative back slapping he received from other news anchors covering the story, for standing up to unprofessional and intrusive conduct from his interviewer. Reports were centred around his strength of character and moral integrity. This begs the question – does Downey Junior garner more respect and validation from the American media because he is older and male?
Cara refused to be belittled by innane and idiotic questions from smug news anchors who sought to infantalise and demean her for daring to fight back against their bullying. For this, she should be not just defended, but also commended.
