trevor noah

Emily Ratajkowski recently threw down a convincing theory about how “only other men” are confused about Pete Davidson’s attractiveness in the eyes of women, and she’s here to level the field on a more serious subject. That would be her revelation (as published in her My Body memoir) that Robin Thicke groped her on the “Blurred Lines” set, an account that was backed up by video director Diane Martel, who cut the shoot short after the incident. Emily visited with Trevor Noah on The Daily Show, where she revealed what she’s gained in perspective from that experience.

Let’s just say that she likely did not set out to level Robin Thicke with her declaration, but that’s still part of the effect because her take is incredibly effective. She suspects that maybe Thicke felt powerless on the set (which was run by a female director and filled with women owning their sexuality, contrary to the song’s lyrics) and was acting out as a result. Yup, she said this, and Emily totally took the high road while responding to Noah’s question on how she views the experience through the lens of time:

“I think that I’m really not interested in blaming individuals. I think that we live in a culture that allows a lot of these situations to occur. [Not just in] professional settings but on dates. Again, not to beat the horse, but power dynamics is what I’m interested in talking about and really revealing because I think that, in some ways, maybe that was like an attempt at leveling the power for him, and I think we need to look at how many this culture if bad for both men and women.”

Again, Emily did not appear to set out with the intent of making Robin Thicke look like a disempowered presence on his own video set, but oh boy, that’s how it’s looking now. And it’s a powerful move on her part to make this observation, and it’s completely her prerogative to look at the situation as reflective of the whole culture. The entire The Daily Show interview is a fascinating one, and it began with Noah admitting, “This is one of the most interesting and complicated books I’ve read about the subject.”

From there, Emily discussed what empowerment really means and how our culture has commodified women. She sees this as extreme in society, to the point where the OnlyFans back-and-forth on whether to ban explicit material was a way for someone to attempt to take power from those women. She compares that situation to the “Blurred Lines” video, and she further says, “Every woman can relate to the experience of getting dressed and knowing, you know, sort of the negotiation of how tight to I want my shirt to be? How, you know, much do I want to cover up?” Emily Ratajkowski gets it.