Hannah Waddingham hosted the Olivier Awards on Sunday night. The Oliviers are the West End’s version of the Tony Awards. There are clips online of Hannah performing and my goodness, she has such a beautiful voice. While we all know that Hannah is talented, she’s also a complete badass. Sorry, she’s a boss ass bitch! While doing the red carpet for the awards, a photographer called out to Hannah, who was wearing a gorgeous beaded purple dress with a thigh-high slit, something to the effect of “show me leg.”
Ooof. Big mistake, my dude. Huge. Hannah promptly read that guy for filth in front of everyone, pointing out that he wouldn’t have said that to a man. She also told him, “Don’t be a dick.” You love to see it.
Last night, Hannah returned to London’s Royal Albert Hall to host the [Olivier] ceremony for the second year in a row, but as she posed for photographers before heading into the venue, she heard one of them make a comment that didn’t sit well.
True to form, Hannah immediately called it out — repeating the misogynistic remark back to the photographer, as well as everybody else in the area. The iconic moment was caught on camera by a fan who was excited to watch Hannah in action as she posed on some steps in a custom Marchesa gown. For context, the sheer dress had a thigh-high slit, and within seconds of her arriving for the photo op, somebody seemingly told the actor to show her legs off for the camera.
While the exact comment isn’t audible in the video, Hannah’s reaction is. The beloved star was clearly stunned by the request, and quickly pointed out: “Oh my god, you’d never say that to a man!”
“Don’t be a dick; otherwise, I’ll move on,” Hannah calmly added. “Don’t say: ‘Show them your legs,’ no.”
At this point, Hannah shook her head and walked away, wagging her finger to reiterate her disapproval. She then appeared to relay what had happened to somebody further along the entry route.
Sharing the video to X, formerly known as Twitter, late Sunday night, the fan explained: “long story short: hannah was being her gorgeous self and the 📸 made some comment about her leg we couldn’t quite make out and… well, the video speaks for itself. This woman is a role model. Always, always call pricks out on their bullshit.”
Earlier in the evening, the same fan had tweeted: “i not only saw hannah waddingham but i saw hannah waddingham being pissed at an asshole misogynistic prick photographer and calling him off on it and i never yelled MOTHER so loud.”
Needless to say, Hannah’s reaction to the photographer has been widely praised, with many crediting the star for walking away from the situation after the misogynistic comment. Quote tweeting the original video, one person wrote: “absolute queen behavior and a great example for younger girls in the industry about knowing their worth.”
Somebody else added: “queen behaviour, so many people just think they can say stupid shit and get away with it without any consequences for them being absolute arses.”
I mean, Hannah is Mother. (Note: That is one of the three Gen Z phrases I know, along with “say less” and “bet”.) Twitter was right, though, that was f–cking queen behavior right there. This was just perfect, no notes. Call that sh-t out when you can. Obviously, Hannah was in a public place and not in any of the danger that could potentially come from embarrassing or turning a man down, but in that moment, she was all of us. I’m old enough to remember when women were calling out men whistling at them on the streets and other sexist pricks were like, “What’s the big deal? You should be flattered!” No woman wants to be sexually harassed, period. Like I said, there will be times when a woman has to prioritize her own safety, but Hannah is in a position of power to stand up for herself and other women. She did us all proud.
long story short: hannah was being her gorgeous self and the 📸 made some comment about her leg we couldn't quite make out and… well, the video speaks for itself. This woman is a role model. Always, always call pricks out on their bullshit. https://t.co/TUPwdqEYo2 pic.twitter.com/ybhxCo5FJ6
— bruna but with a posh accent (@odeiotedlasso) April 14, 2024
Photos credit: Sue Andrews / Avalon, James Warren / Bang Showbiz / Avalon, IMAGO/RW/Mediapunch / Avalon
Rosie, you absolute gem. Thank you for your post. I love what you wrote. All of it. You’re awesome 💫
Awww thank you Hannah! <3
I saw the video of it😊.. good for her👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 he should have been called out.
I love Hannah – she’s gorgeous, talented and takes no sh!t. Plus I stan those slippers the makeup artist was carrying – were they Hannah’s?
Those are Uggs, and I would guess, yes, those are Hannah’s. Love Hannah’s response, I think we’ve all gotten tired of smiling in the face of male rudeness & I think Rosie is right, at this time & location, Hannah felt safe to express her feelings. I’ve finally trained myself not to smile when a man has just insulted me to my face, but my fantastic, cutting responses still remain in my head.
And gotta say, I’m assuming that red suit is Chanel? Gorgeous! She looks absolutely gorgeous!
Google lens tells me the red is Self-Portrait.
@H: ooh! Attainable!
“Don’t be a dick.” I wish I could tattoo that on my forehead. I also wish I had Hannah Waddingham’s gorgeous figure. She really is Mother (learn something new every day😉).
Boss Bitch move.
Hannah takes no bullshit and I love her for it.
Also, gonna be a bit pedantic here; “bet” isn’t aGen-Z phrase. It’s 90’s AAVE slang.
🙂 I love learning about words & their origins, so that’s good to know. It’s not pedantic at all!
Thank you! I had no idea! Now I have to go and find a real third Gen Z phrase to know lol.
Thank you for hyperlinking what “Mother” means. I have a Gen Alpha kiddo, but they aren’t exactly up with all the slang. Though “bro” or “bruh” has made the appearance.
I feel like I am just not getting this….of course he would say it to a man, if the man were wearing an outfit that included a high slit? The internet is full of celebrities popping legs out of dresses with high slits. I assume in many cases, getting that shot out there was the point of wearing the dress.
If we’re saying it’s rude for photographers to ask for specific poses, that makes sense to me. It must feel weird to have a bunch of people tell you where to put your body. And maybe that happens more to women than men? So HW was calling that out more than anything else?
Sorry, I really just feel like I’m missing something here. I love HW, and have heard enough “photographers are nuts” stories to feel like the problem is me.
Nope. nope. noppity nope to your point.
No photographer says “show me some leg” to a man unless the man is in drag and doing a version of performance art in character.
You are totally missing the point, dude or “pick me”. She should be “flattered, right?”
Take that attitude back to 2004, and it wasn’t cool then either.
@Hoopjumper…”getting that shot out there was the point of wearing the dress” ???? That feeds directly into r*pe culture thinking. Please stop. Hannah can wear whatever she wants without the intention of a man yelling at her to show some leg. The end.
I mean, I’m recalling Pedro Pascal’s “slutty knee.” But yeah, it’s pretty creepy whoever it’s done to.
“Show us some leg” is indeed the point of the dress, but Hannah has granted us the PRIVILEGE of that glimpse, and it’s not for anyone else to demand more than she wants to show. And anyway, considering the length and position of the slit in her dress, that rude “show me leg” couldn’t really accomplish a more revealing shot than a polite, “could you please turn this way, Hannah?”
Hoopjumper,
My knee-jerk reaction was very similar to yours. I was initially confused in that my first thought was “well, men are almost exclusively in pants so they wouldn’t have the opportunity to say that to a man, it wouldn’t make sense.”
Photographers aren’t shouting to the men to turn around and show them how their booty fits in their tux pants, ya know? I think we are so used to things being a certain way that at least in my case, it took me a second to understand how she felt in that moment.
But she is a female actor that is so used to all the misogynistic disparities between men and women in her field and so she is going to have opinions that we, as laypeople, won’t.
Thank you for taking my confusion at face value. I think I was just taking her wording way too literally. I do believe that if Harry Styles were rocking the exact same dress on the red carpet, he’d get the same ask. Tealily mentioned Pedro Pascal, another example. I also think actresses do sometimes wear dresses with high slits because *they* want to pose the specific way the photographer was referencing (see many of the photos on the list below) and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. I don’t think the analogy to catcalling is accurate for a variety of reasons, as someone who lives in NYC and dealt with catcalling in her 20s.
https://www.elle.com.au/fashion/fashion-news/celebrity-leg-slit-dresses-20854/
I think this has struck a nerve because people are just tired of exchanges where men tell women what to do. Further, per Miranda’s point, I find it very easy to believe women on the red carpet are shouted orders by photographers, whereas men are asked more nicely, and HW was reasonably reacting to that. I also think there’s a chance that red carpets in general are just creepy places (never been on one myself obviously) and that HW’s response, as reminder she’s a human being, not a meat puppet, is a step in a good direction. So hats off to HW.
Billy Porter never gets comments like that no matter what he’s wearing. This was a cheap, vulgar comment and she was right to call him out. You see wearing a dress with a slit doesn’t give some jerk permission to shout out “show us some leg” – she’s at a huge, important awards show, not some lowbrow event for D-listers.
Hannah Waddingham is the best. She should host ALL of the awards shows. And I’m so glad she called that photographer on his crap.
Just because she’s wearing a dress with a slit doesn’t mean a gross photog should demand that she pose a certain way. I am sooooo tired of the sh*t to which women are constantly subjected. It’s exhausting.
Thanks to the link to Urban Dictionary, I, too, know three Gen Z phrases! I’ll never attempt to use them, because I don’t want to invoke eye rolling, but at least I’ll understand the conversation a little better.
Hannah is absolutely magnificent.