Miriam Margolyes never minces her words.
And she left a Byron Bay influencer stunned when she questioned his line of work during an ABC special on Tuesday night.
Appearing on TV series Impossibly Australian, the British actress came face-to-face with Jade Kevin Foster, a young man who earns a living on social media.
‘Do you like my outfit?’ he asked, and she instantly replied, ‘Not much!’
She instantly questioned what he does for a living, asking, ‘What the f**k is that?’ when he gave his job title as an ‘influencer’.
‘How can you influence people? What with? With this get up?’ she added cheekily, referring to his ensemble.
‘This is very Byron fashion as well’ he said, before explaining that he had 1.4 million followers and made money online.
‘Well, I love money, but, um, I don’t want it to be all there is’ Miriam said.
However after a little back-and-forth the star came to see the value in what the young man did for others.
‘For me, I just think it originated from when I was younger, I was bullied at school’ Jade said.
‘Because you were gay? God, they’re s**t!’ Miriam said.
‘I will try to learn because I’m old and closed. You know, I’ve kind of made my mind up about things and I mustn’t do that. I’ve got to be still open and aware’ she added.
Margolyes recently left an Australian talk show host speechless today after pointedly asking him ‘what are you by the way?’ as the pair discussed the war between Israel and Palestine.
Waleed Aly, host of Australian Channel 10’s current affairs show The Project, found himself momentarily at a loss for words when the British-Australian actress derailed a discussion on Gaza with the out-of-the-blue question.
Margolyes, who is Jewish, emphatically called for an immediate ceasefire – a statement that appeared to resonate with the studio audience.
‘Ceasefire now,’ she demanded. ‘Whether you’re black or white, it doesn’t matter.’
She then turned to Aly and asked bluntly: ‘What are you by the way? You’re sort of brown!’
Aly appeared visibly taken aback, but moments later lowered his head and chuckled.
‘This is a really interesting question actually,’ he replied. ‘I’ve thought about this a lot. I’m not joking about that… I’m Egyptian.’
‘Oh really,’ replied Margolyes, prompting laughter from the audience.
‘I like the Egyptian people. I’m on the side of the Palestinians,’ she said.
