Last night, Sam Smith won an Oscar for the his song that James Bond movie. In his acceptance speech, he said:
"I read an article a few months ago by Sir Ian McKellen, and he said that no openly gay man had ever won an Oscar. If this is the case—even if it isn't the case—I want to dedicate this to the LGBT community all around the world."Um, okay, Sam... However, you wasn't the first. There was Melissa Etheridge, Elton John, Stephen Sondheim. And that's just in the same catagory. Classical composer John Corigliano, songwriter Howard Ashman, Sir John Gielgud... Bill Condon won for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1999, Alan Ball won Best Original Screenplay for American Beauty, and Pedro Almodóvar won Best Original Screenplay for Talk To Her. And then, Dustin Lance Black who won for Milk and even talked about being gay in his speech.
So, no, Sam's not the first. It was a simple mistake... A mistake riddled in privilege and twinkism, but hey. I didn't expect Sam to be a wealth of LGBT knowledge, but if you have a chance to win an Oscar, you should be better prepared. And he wasn't, not only for that, but the backlash. Sam was dragged for that statement. He came off like a true gay millennial, only aware of the now. Then Dustin sent out this tweet.
Hey @SamSmithWorld, if you have no idea who I am, it may be time to stop texting my fiancé. Here's a start: https://t.co/8hGTRtIaMK— Dustin Lance Black (@DLanceBlack) February 29, 2016
Wow! Anywho, it was a mistake, a gaffe that I hope Sam learned from. He's young, so he will be forgiven. However, he needs to brush up on his LGBT history if he's going to play the spokesperson.
1 comment:
Gaffe heard around the world? I doubt African children living in abject poverty heard it. I doubt North Koreans dying of starvation heard it. I doubt Syrians & Iraqis being terrorized by ISIS heard it. I doubt African Americans living on the southside of Chicago in fear of being shot if they leave their homes heard it. Word of the day - perspective.
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