Watch: The Oddest Moment During The Oscars
The most head-scratching thing to happen during last night's lackluster Academy Awards ceremony happened right the announcement that "Music by Prudence" had won for Best Documentary Short. Elinor Burkett, a one-time producer of the film who yanked herself from the project last year, pulled what's being referred to as a "Kanye West moment" by rushing on stage during director Roger Ross Williams' acceptance speech.
Apparently, the two have been in the midst of a beef about the film (both legal and otherwise) about the creative aspects of the film.
Burkett tells Salon her side of the story: "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."
And Williams his: "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."
Watch a clip of the weirdness here.
Posted Mar. 8,2010 at 10:43 AM EST by Steve Pep in Oscars | Permalink
That hag has "battle axe" written all over her.
Posted by: LD | Mar 8, 2010 10:58:55 AM
That was really ugly how she just cut him off and pushed him aside. She could have just gotten up there and smiled and stood next to him and then said a simple thank you at the end. That would have been the classy thing.
Posted by: Brian in Texas | Mar 8, 2010 11:09:34 AM
She is listed by the Academy as a co-nominee and a co winner. She had the right to be on the stage to accept her award. Because of their feud, he tried to block her and get there first. That was rude and shameful. Feud or not, their differences should have been put aside to accept an award won due to what BOTH of them created. Neither of them wouldn't have been there without the other.
Posted by: Beef and Fur | Mar 8, 2010 11:12:24 AM
Some of you may remember her name from this book about 15 years ago:
Elinor Burkett, 'The Gravest Show on Earth; America in the age of Aids' Houghton Mifflin Co. USA 1995, 400 pages, ISBN 0-395-74537-3.
Posted by: Lavi Soloway | Mar 8, 2010 11:17:59 AM
I did notice how he jumped up and practically ran to the stage, almost even before his name was announced.
Posted by: KFLO | Mar 8, 2010 11:33:54 AM
Yeah, she was partly responsible for the movie, and deserved to be up there. But the move she pulled was just classless and petty. Whomever is right or wrong in this whole situation between them, becomes irrelevant due to how she acted on that stage. She showed a real ugly side to who she is as a person. The whole incident is just unfortunate.
Posted by: John | Mar 8, 2010 11:34:26 AM
That's so typical... shiny gold accessories coming between a gay man and his hag.
Posted by: crispy | Mar 8, 2010 11:37:55 AM
No she DIDN't deserve to be up there! There was a court case which she lost. She was no longer the producer of the movie. She shouldn't have been allowed in the building!
But people won't stand up to hysterical cunts. They just won't.
Posted by: David Ehrenstein | Mar 8, 2010 11:57:12 AM
Yeah, he did start running up for his award before his name was announced.
Posted by: rob | Mar 8, 2010 11:58:19 AM
Ehrenstein,
Could you grow up a little and stop referring to women as c-words?
Posted by: Nick | Mar 8, 2010 12:02:48 PM
>>But people won't stand up to hysterical cunts. They just won't.
Posted by: David Ehrenstein | Mar 8, 2010 11:57:12 AM
Oh look, a hysterical n igger.
Posted by: GrabbinNewscum | Mar 8, 2010 12:08:37 PM
You know Mr. Ehrenstein, it takes one moment to go to the official Oscar website and look at their list of winners at http://oscar.go.com/oscar-night/winners?cid=10_oscars_landingCallout_nominations and see that Ms. Burkett is listed right there along with Mr. Williams.
Calling her a "hysterical cunt" is pathetic.
Posted by: homerh | Mar 8, 2010 12:18:40 PM
I thought Mo'nique's speech was even odder. She seemed kind of angry. Over what? I dunno. You won a prestigious award, girl. Lighten up!
The cutaway of Samuel L. Jackson's bemused reaction to her speech was the most hilarious moment of the night. Did anyone else catch that? Did my imagination invent that?
Posted by: Jane Roe | Mar 8, 2010 12:28:58 PM
Mo'Nique is a very, very serious woman and that's just how she speaks. Her words. Are. Very. Precise. Oddly, when she does standup, she almost speaks in a different voice.
Posted by: Gregoire | Mar 8, 2010 12:33:22 PM
Get a pair "HOMERH" and "Nick."
Cut them off of "GrabbinNewscum" -- if you can find them.
Posted by: David Ehrenstein | Mar 8, 2010 12:36:15 PM
Didn't they call her name too? If only one person is supposed to be on stage then they should only announce that one person. Who the hell runs up to the stage anyway? Unless they're trying to hurry so the lil old lady can't speak.
Posted by: Josh | Mar 8, 2010 12:44:43 PM
If you read the Salon article, Ms Burkett wanted the film to have a different focus, to be about the whole band instead of about Prudence. There were creative differences, she left the project then sued, and apparently lost the suit. The film that won the Academy Award is the version of the story she opposed making. How then does she justify being the one to accept the award?
I did think he ran to the stage like a contestant on "The Price Is Right" but at the time it struck me as funny but not really odd. Her intrusion into his speech and then making it all about ME ME ME was jarring. Now we hear she opposed the entire direction the film took. Sorry, but in my book that makes her a classless attention whore.
Posted by: Greenman | Mar 8, 2010 12:49:06 PM
Not into the sexism on display here, but I love how she played the same sexism card -- "woman as victim" -- by bulldozing what appears to be a gay black man.
So I will choose a gender neutral term, and simply call her an a**hole.
Posted by: Strepsi | Mar 8, 2010 12:49:43 PM
Some insight for those who don't know how the Academy works... it is very bureaucratic with a lot of paperwork and different organizations (guilds) who weigh in on the number of people who can be credited, who can go on stage, and who can speak. The filings are desired by the Academy as early as possible (though shorts are part of a subcommittee that does the initial nominations so credits are usually requested by the time the long list is created) and they can be very bitchy and will make you file credit amendments rather than holding up their paperwork (which goes to all the various guilds to approve the individuals too.)
This is a case of the credits being filed way ahead of time. After that, the Academy defers to the Producers Guild for who is eligible to receive an award. Once the legal settlement occurred (and she was removed from the movie as a producer), the PGA wouldn't have allowed her to receive an award but I'm guessing the settlement happened fairly late in the year and then you have to file with the PGA to have them step in with the Academy to have the invitation revoked and returned. I'm guessing no one expected this woman to storm the stage, otherwise she would have been dis-invited and the extra hassle pre-show taken. She must know that she isn't eligible anymore and the PGA will not allow the Academy to actually give her an award. What the website/Academy had posted is meaningless because it's just a paperwork delay once the legal case was settled.
Posted by: unruly | Mar 8, 2010 1:04:59 PM
GrabbinBitchScum only attacks David Ehrenstein's black half because he scared the Jewish half would kick his peckerwood ass.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Mar 8, 2010 1:05:14 PM
Man I'm so tired of attention grabbing, talentless people in Hollywood always trying to claim credit... I deal with them every day...
Posted by: richie | Mar 8, 2010 1:36:12 PM
Oh, "David Ehrenstein" put my name in quotes. Now my feelings are super-duper hurt that the "critic" was mean to me!
Posted by: homerh | Mar 8, 2010 1:39:51 PM
That queen was immature anyways and his speech was looking like another "Thank god, momma, family" suck-a-thon speech.
Instead, the lady pushed the wispy brat off and gave an actual speech that was relevant to the movie.
Posted by: Lucrece | Mar 8, 2010 1:44:07 PM
Jane Roe...you were not seeing things...
JAckson did roll his eyes and make a strange face....I had to roll back by DVR of the moment to confirm...it was hysterical!!
Posted by: MCnNYC | Mar 8, 2010 1:45:55 PM
"The queen was immature anyways and his speech was looking like another "Thank god, momma, family" suck-a-thon speech.
Instead, the lady pushed the wispy brat off and gave an actual speech that was relevant to the movie"
Yep, immature and obviously a gentlemen because this too mature old "queen" would have used Oscar to put a dent in side of that bossified bitches' head.
Oh, and I use "bitch" to describe more male bitches than female ones.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Mar 8, 2010 1:57:10 PM