The story behind the Oscars' Kanye moment you didn't even know happened | Movie News
If you're like me, you were refilling your beer during the acceptance speech for Best Documentary Short, but if you were watching, you saw a rather odd moment with a confused black dude and a crazy white woman. I just figured they were rushing through their speech from what I could hear, but what actually happened is far more interesting.
The guy was Roger Ross Williams, the director of MUSIC BY PRUDENCE (which totally won me a point in the Joblo Oscar pool) and the woman was Elinor Burkett, a producer of the film. Apparently, she and Williams had disagreements over the film to the point where she wasn’t even supposed to speak if the film won. Welllll, it appears she wasn’t happy with that decision. Salon investigated, and Burkett tells her side of the story:
People are already saying you "pulled a Kanye." What happened?
BURKETT: What happened was the director and I had a bad difference over the direction of the film that resulted in a lawsuit that has settled amicably out of court. But there have been all these events around the Oscars, and I wasn't invited to any of them. And he's not speaking to me. So we weren't even able to discuss ahead of the time who would be the one person allowed to speak if we won. And then, as I'm sure you saw, when we won, he raced up there to accept the award. And his mother took her cane and blocked me. So I couldn't get up there very fast.
Can you explain the reason behind the conflict?
BURKETT: The movie was supposed to be about the entire band, Liyana. And the [band members] were very clear they did not want to participate if it ended up being just about one person. The director and HBO decided to focus solely on Prudence...
...The movie was my idea. I live in Zimbabwe. Roger had never even heard of Zimbabwe before I told him about this. And you know, I felt my role in this has been denigrated again and again, and it wasn't going to happen this time.
“His mother took her cane and blocked me.” "Roger had never even heard of Zimbabwe." Alright, this is actually a pretty awesome story. Granted, I wish it was George Clooney and Jeff Bridges getting in a fist fight over Best Actor, but I guess this will have to do. Read the full interview over at Salon and you can see a video of the moment in question below.
Source: Salon
Extra Tidbit: To be fair, they did call her name. It’s not like the guys from RABBIT A LA BERLIN stormed the stage.
.jpg)
.jpg)
6:32PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
6:26PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
Edit
5:58PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
4:04PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
3:51PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
3:25PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
3:11PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
3:11PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
2:10PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
1:53PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
1:34PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
1:32PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
1:15PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
12:57PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
Yikes. She makes dumb-ass Kanye seem rational (that's not saying much) -- and he was drunk!
Yikes. She makes dumb-ass Kanye seem rational (that's not saying much) -- and he was drunk!
12:31PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
12:28PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
12:19PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
12:11PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
I was the director, and she was removed from the project nearly a year ago, but she was able to still qualify as a producer on the project, and be an official nominee. But she was very angry -- she actually removed herself from the project – because she wanted more creative control.
But couldn't you decide ahead of time who would speak?
...
I was the director, and she was removed from the project nearly a year ago, but she was able to still qualify as a producer on the project, and be an official nominee. But she was very angry -- she actually removed herself from the project – because she wanted more creative control.
But couldn't you decide ahead of time who would speak?
WILLIAMS: That was handled by the publicist for the academy. I don't know what they told her. The academy is very clear that only one person can speak. I own the film. She has no claim whatsoever. She has nothing to do with the movie. She just ambushed me. I was sort of in shock.
12:02PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
12:02PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
2:47PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
1:19PM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile
11:50AM on 03/08/2010 Add as a friend | MFC profile