ENTERTAINMENTSharon Stone Erupts at Cannes Film Festival Audience Member: 'Put Your Phone Down!'
Sharon Stone lost it after spotting an audience member on their phone during a Cannes Film Festival event.
May 19 2026, Published 5:08 p.m. ET
Hollywood icon Sharon Stone delivered the blunt command to an audience member while giving a passionate, connection-focused speech at the Better World Fund gala in Cannes.
The speech — part of an event where ticket prices ranged from $2,300 to $35,000 — encouraged attendees to stop being distracted by screens and instead embrace the people around them.
While speaking from the stage, Stone grew tired of the crowd's lack of attention, specifically targeting those on their devices or eating.
'Put That F---ing Phone Down!'
Sharon Stone lost it at guests distracted from the event's programming.
The incident occurred during the event's programming, when Stone said, "Put that f---ing phone down!"
Rather than continuing with standard gala formalities, she used the moment to demand that the room engage in human connection.
Immediately after forcing the person to put away their phone, she used her commanding presence to push for radical empathy, actively calling out specific men and women in the audience, demanding they stop eating, look into each other's eyes, share their pain, and embrace the strangers next to them.
'Hug That Man'
Sharon Stone encouraged audience members to interact with one another.
The 68-year-old Basic Instinct star took on the role of a therapist slash 70s-era guru of sorts, telling the audience to turn to their neighbors and "Tell him you care he's carrying pain, that you love him," while ordering them to hug each other tightly.
“I want you to tell them, and I want you to mean it, that you’re sorry for the thing that hurt them,” she said, encouraging people to engage with the person beside them in the audience.
“That makes them afraid, mean, unkind, afraid when they’re alone, angry. Put that f---ing phone down,” she went on. “Turn to the person next to you. Turn that man right there and hug him. Hug that man.”
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After it started raining, Sharon Stone called it 'clean energy coming down.'
As the audience members awkwardly and emotionally complied with her demands to hug each other, the weather took an unexpected turn, and it began to rain.
Stone leaned into the moment, calling the rain "clean energy coming down" and thanking the audience for "washing yourselves" before making her exit.
'Who Are You and Why Are You Sitting Here?'
This is not the first time Sharon Stone has called out what she perceived as rude behavior.
This bold move joins a long list of moments in which the actress has confidently used live stages to call out what she perceives as rude behavior, including a separate notable incident in which she blasted attendees at her table for not recognizing her.
Someone reportedly approached Stone at her table at The Astra Awards in January and asked, "Who are you and why are you sitting here?"
Upon taking the microphone to receive her award, Stone fired back from the stage, declaring, "And to the kids at my table who wondered, 'Who the f--- took that chair?' Now you know."
