Lady Gaga might be winning an Oscar this weekend, but the first ever transgender Academy Award nominee certainly won’t be attending.
Singer Anohni, formerly referred to as Antony Hegarty, is nominated for the Best Original Song Oscar for her song Manta Ray, and she’s boycotting the ceremony after her mistreatment by the ceremony’s organizers.
After her nomination, she flew back from Asia to prepare a performance in case the nominees were asked to perform. Sadly, Anohni wasn’t asked to perform, while more famous nominees like Sam Smith, Gaga, and The Weeknd were. In a statement, she says she thought that people would reach out, but nobody did:
“Confused, I sat and waited. Would someone be in touch? But as time bore on I heard nothing. I slowly realized that the positive implication of this nomination was being retracted. The producers seemed to have decided to stage performances only by the singers who were deemed commercially viable.”
To add insult to injury, a more famous non-nominee was added to the ceremony:
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
“…now the papers were naming me as one of two artists to have been ‘cut’ by the Academy due to ‘time constraints.’ In the next sentence it was announced that Dave Grohl, not nominated in any category, had been added to the list of performers.”
The final humiliation? When her gender identity was added to the Oscar website as “trivia”:
“As if to rub salt into the wound, the next morning the Oscars added that I was transgendered to the trivia page of their website.”
All set to at least attend, she realized she couldn’t do it:
“Last night I tried to force myself to get on the plane to fly to LA for all the nominee events, but the feelings of embarrassment and anger knocked me back, and I couldn’t get on the plane. I imagined how it would feel for me to sit amongst all those Hollywood stars, some of the brave ones approaching me with sad faces and condolences.
There I was, feeling a sting of shame that reminded me of America’s earliest affirmations of my inadequacy as a transperson. I turned around at the airport and went back home.”
Anohni says she realizes her exclusion is based more on her lack of name recognition in the United States than her gender identity, but it’s just one more humiliation in a system that makes life harder for trans people:
“It is a system of social oppression and diminished opportunities for transpeople that has been employed by capitalism in the US to crush our dreams and our collective spirit.”
Her entire statement is here and well worth a read. Check it out, and listen to the haunting, moody track below.
1EqualityUSA
Pick up your jacks and go home then.
Billy Budd
OverReaction.
Xzamilio
I get her feeling slighted by the Academy and its handling of her possibly performing, but a better political statement would have been to fucking show up, because I guarantee no one will care. I feel like this culture of overreaction is going to spawn a blowback very soon. Hell, even liberal Democrats agree with PC going too far. Unless the other artist was transgender, this could easily be a case of going with the familiar. I don’t know if she’s familiar with Hollywood, but they are notorious for sticking to what sells and what they know will bring in ratings. And with the #OscarsSoWhite going on, there is too much political slacktivism attached to a narcissistic ceremony of celebrity schmoozing with celebrities.
I’m not even watching the Oscars… I’m just gonna read the highlights and hope Leo wins.
Chris Neamtu
This isn’t the first trans person to be nominated. Angela Morley, a composer, was nominated twice in the 70’s.
Nik D'ambra
You should still attend with a ” F- U ‘ attitude !!!!
Bromancer7
Oh no! She called herself “transgendered”! Burn the heretic!!!
1EqualityUSA
Making decisions based on total projection and self-doubt. How can anyone at the festivities reject her when she’s already rejected herself? Who knows what deals may have been brokered, had she the courage to show up.
Billy Budd
Her decision was totally idiotic. She did the wrong thing.
jayj150
Oh no!, a transgender person making a fuss, playing the victim and crying ‘boycott’! to people praising their talent. Who would have seen this coming?!
jayj150
By the way Queerty, this isn’t the first transperson to be nominated; she might be the first person nominated as a performer, though.
switcher
Imagine… a transgender person is included in the nominees, and not one black person is nominated for anything. Let that sink in for a minute.
Alistair Wiseman
Liberal victimhood at its finest. Liberalism has taught this little snowflake about “a system of social oppression and diminished opportunities”.
You must be so proud.
PretenderNX01
I actually like the live “original song” performances as it breathes some life into an otherwise dull clip-show. They did treat her kind of badly, I think over 3 hours there should be room for the songs nominated.
Like Xzamilio though, maybe show up with a “let us all sing” banner on 😉
Stached1
LOL an angry trans person. I’m not surprised. She/He is being silly by not attending just because the song is not being shown.
Jason Sanders
Don’t show up. It isn’t proving anything.
Steve Russell
Bye, Felicia!
Kangol
Good for her. Let that monochrome farce rot. I hope it gets the lowest viewership ever.
jayj150
So, not only did Hegarty not win, but the openly gay guy nominated guy(Sam Smith) won and dedicated his Oscar to gay people. The anti-gay trans bigots must have their panties burning with hatred over his “cis-privilege” 🙂
Tracy Pope
It’s a shame she decided to stay home. Sure, the producers of the show want viewers so they’ll have mainstream entertainers but I think that going to the Academy Awards, and graciously losing, would have been the best F-U.
My gay card will be revoked for this but I thought Writing’s On The Wall was utter garbage. Not particularly fond of Sam Smith’s music anyway but as a James Bond theme song this one was a stinker.
inbama
@Tracy Pope:
You are absolutely correct – the Bond song is crap.
And as far as Smith christening himself the “First Out Gay to Win an Oscar,” he should’ve done some googling: Pedro Almadovar, Howard Ashman, Alan Ball, Dustin Lance Black, Bill Condon, Melissa Etheridge, Elton John, George Cukor, Linda Hunt, John Schlesinger, and, uh, Stephen Sondheim
Shirley Marquez
If a song is worthy of being nominated for an Oscar, it should be worthy of being performed at the ceremony. Inviting some of the nominees to perform their songs while excluding others is disrespectful.
JPDonahue
She sure showed them!
Did every other nominated artist perform? Was she singled out?
I wonder how all the artists who weren’t nominated feel?
Some feel it’s a great honor just to be nominated.
Shirley Marquez
@JPDonahue: One other nominee did not perform: Youth (Simple Song #3). Sam Smith (Writing’s On The Wall), The Weeknd (Earned It (Fifty Shades of Gray)), and Lady Gaga (Til It Happens To You) all did.
Stached1
@jayj150: LOL very true. But there’s literally nothing that trans people, and trans activists do not get offended by.