Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai has been hailed a "hero" for hitting back at Jimmy Kimmel 's awkward Harry Styles joke at the Oscars.
The female education activist, 25, was at the 95th Academy Awards as an executive producer for film Stranger at the Gate, which was nominated in the Best Documentary Short Film category.
During a break in the show, host Jimmy Kimmel weaved his was through the audience for his comedic segments.
He approached Malala thanking her for attending and congratulated her on her film.
Yet things turned sour as Kimmel pretended to ask a question from viewer at home, 'Joanne'.
"Your work on human rights and education for women and children is an inspiration,” Kimmel began.
“As the youngest Nobel prize winner in history, I was wondering, do you think Harry Styles spit on Chris Pine?”
The gag was met with a handful of awkward laughs and left Malala looking visibly uncomfortable.
Having taken a moment to collect herself, she replied: "I only talk about peace."
Kimmel, 55, added: "You know what, that's why you're Malala and nobody else is. That's a great answer, Malala. The winner is malala-land, everybody."
The joke was in reference to singer and actor Harry Styles sending social media into meltdown as he appeared to spit at actor Chris Pine at the Don't Worry Darling film premiere last year.
In an ad break, Malala logged into Twitter and shared a video of the interaction.
She captioned it with “Treat people with kindness,” alongside a peace emoji.
The Pakistani activist was met with thousands of responses of being calling her a "hero" and an "icon" for how she dealt with the awkward joke.
One person said: "Utterly disrespectful and patronizing behavior towards her and her work. It was the same cringe felling and reaction from the Smith Slap."
Another added: "Beautifully said and beautifully dressed!"
Whilst someone else wrote: "It was a cringe worthy question. You handled it gracefully."
Malala attended the event in a head-to-toe silver Ralph Lauren dress.
She was a teenage education activist when the Pakistani Taliban hunted her down, stopped her school bus and shot her in the face in 2012.
She survived and two years later won the Nobel Peace Prize. Malala is known for human rights advocacy, and campaigns for the education of women and children in Pakistan.
