And the Award for Worst Take on #MeToo Goes to...

JOHN TRAVOLTA! Who, presumably, would like to thank his family and whatever heavy object knocked him on his head before this trash fell out of his face. [Content Note: Rape apologia.]

John Travolta doesn't do a lot of interviews. But at the Cannes Film Festival for the premiere of his mob drama Gotti, in which he plays embattled mafia don John Gotti, the Oscar-nominated actor sat for a two-hour conversation as part of the festival's master class series, dubbed "Rendez-vous with."

The event was moderated by a French journalist who largely asked fawning questions about Travolta's résumé, asking the actor to go into detail about what it was like to become famous after Saturday Night Fever and whether or not he knew Pulp Fiction was going to be a hit.

The moderator did, however, ask Travolta about his feelings on the #MeToo movement and "what's happening in Hollywood right now" — a conversation, of course, that has been a big topic at Cannes, where 82 women marched on the festival's red carpet to highlight the lack of female filmmaker representation over the years and festival director Thierry Frémaux signed a charter pledging the festival would, among other things, take steps toward gender parity on its executive board.

"I honestly don't know a ton about it, because I try my best to keep people equal — men, women, races," Travolta responded. "My father was brilliant at it. He had a global viewpoint. I'm a citizen of the globe, and I'm a citizen of groups and people."

He segued into the topic of protest, saying he typically viewed it as a "last resort," and questioned its usefulness.

"Protest is valid. But how do you measure — how do you differentiate the moment where it becomes invalid?" Travolta asked. "It's an art, almost, to say, 'OK, let's protest, but we've achieved that here and these particular rights. Now, let's get smart about how we use that … protest so it doesn't get into an irrational perspective.' If we go back to the humanities of being each other's friends and wanting and caring at a deep level, then we'll make it. But it's a dwindling spiral out there."

There was no follow-up.

HOW WAS THERE NO FOLLOW-UP TO THAT?! How does a journalist hear that arble-garble word salad of ignorant nonsense and NOT HAVE A FOLLOW-UP?!

Like: "Wait a moment, Mr. Travolta. Are you suggesting that (mostly but not exclusively) women protesting endemic sexual violence could reach the point of invalidity, even while sexual violence remains endemic?"

Or: "Pardon me, Mr. Travolta, but can I clarify that you just suggested 'being each other's friends and wanting and caring at a deep level' is the solution to sexual harassment and sexual assault, and is that suggestion exclusively directed at THE PERPETRATORS OF HARASSMENT AND ASSAULT?"

Or maybe: "Johnny Trav, what in the love of Xenu's volcanoes are you even talking about?"

The only acceptable words that could have followed "I honestly don't know a ton about it" are "therefore, I'm not going to say anything. But thank you for the question, which is a reminder that I should really take the time to educate myself, so I don't sound like a dipshit the next time I'm asked about this incredibly sensitive and important subject."

[H/T to Kaiser.]