Kieran Culkin Praised For Appropriate And Hilarious Response To Racist Remark

Elyse Wanshel
·4 min read
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Kieran Culkin didn’t have to utter a single word to express his feelings about an ignorant statement.

A resurfaced video clip from 2016 has been getting a lot of attention on social media this week due to the “Succession” star’s pitch-perfect reaction to French American actor Julie Delpy.

At that year’s Sundance Film Festival, Culkin, Delpy and Danny DeVito took part in a panel event organized by TheWrap to promote the film “Wiener-Dog.”

From left: Zosia Mamet, Danny DeVito, Julie Delpy, Todd Solondz and Kieran Culkin from the film
From left: Zosia Mamet, Danny DeVito, Julie Delpy, Todd Solondz and Kieran Culkin from the film "Wiener-Dog" pose for a portrait in 2016. John Parra via Getty Images

Delpy — who garnered two Oscar nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay after 2004’s “Before Sunset” and 2013’s “Before Midnight” — was lamenting how the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had dismissed her complaints about its lack of diversity.

“Two years ago, I said something about the Academy being very white male, which is the reality, and I was slashed to pieces by the media,” Delpy said at the time. “It’s funny — women can’t talk. I sometimes wish I were African American because people don’t bash them afterward.”

In footage of the moment, Culkin, who is seated next to Delpy, can be seen lowering his face and rubbing his forehead in apparent frustration or secondhand embarrassment. DeVito’s jaw also drops after Delpy makes the loaded remark.

People on X, formerly Twitter, praised Culkin’s appropriately funny reaction to Delpy’s comments.

Others appreciated DeVito’s response as well.

Several X users had a few thoughts on Delpy’s remarks.

Although the clip circulating online cuts off after Delpy makes her biased statement, she continued to underscore her opinion that women are silenced more than Black Americans.

“It’s the hardest to be a woman,” Delpy said at the event. “Feminists is something people hate above all. Nothing worse than being a woman in this business. I really believe that.”

Not that we need to rehash the centuries of oppression that Black Americans have been forced to endure, but if we were to look back at recent history, we’d like to think that former quarterback Colin Kaepernick might have a few choice words for Delpy about being silenced.