#OscarsSoCis
You'll Never Watch The Oscars The Same Way Again
The Trans Oscar Nominee Who Boycotted The Academy Awards
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You’ll Never Watch the Oscars the Same Way Again
Picture this.
2016 was the year of the 88th Academy Awards and the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite.
Along with a few other unprecedented firsts, Chris Rock hosted the Oscars…again. Which was a first of its kind. He’d come a long way since his first time hosting in 2005 — and he had further still to go before 2022.
More importantly, the 88th Academy Awards nominated the first out trans musician for an Academy Award: Mercury Prize-winning musician Anohni for her song “Manta Ray,” composed for the climate crisis documentary Racing Extinction.
Except instead of inviting Anohni to perform, the Oscars invited Dave Grohl, who wasn’t even nominated.
Now I love Dave Grohl but…wtf?
Join me in promoting #OscarsSoCis
2016 was the same year that intensified the #OscarsSoWhite movement. At the time, the movement felt powerful, but in hindsight, it has had demonstrably little effect. More on that later.
The lack of progress shouldn’t be surprising. If the Academy wasn’t willing to champion diversity back then, why would we expect that to change today?
On the heels of an awards season that Rolling Stone said had been “been rightfully dominated by stories of omission and institutional injustice,” the Academy squandered “a golden opportunity to recognize and champion diversity in the artistic community (and allow the world a few minutes to indulge in one of its most mellifluous voices).”
What the hell happened?
The Advocate (JANUARY 14, 2016): “Meet the Second-Ever Transgender Oscar Nominee”
Hegarty, the lead vocalist of the band Antony and The Johnsons, created the track “Manta Ray” for Racing Extinction. Hegarty is credited as the writer of the song’s lyrics, with the music by J. Ralph (Chasing Ice). The documentary follows activists as they try to stem the tide of manmade mass extinction of the world’s animals.
“I always think about those stories about the last bird, or the last of a species, when they’re calling out and they don’t have the other animal, the partner that can call back to them,” Hogarty stated in an interview with Flavorwire [on the state of TransFeminism]. “The idea of the disappearing voice is very resonant for me. What hears a solitary voice. What responds to a solitary voice.”
But Taylor and Rodriguez, along with a host of other diverse films and actors, were snubbed in the major Oscar categories, which were announced Thursday morning.
Rolling Stone (FEBRUARY 25, 2016): “Trans Oscar Nominee Anohni on Why She’s Boycotting Academy Awards”
On Saturday, it was reported that Anohni was one of two Best Original Song nominees who wasn’t invited to perform during the telecast (the other was the duo of David Lang and Sumi Jo, whose Simple Song #3 was commissioned for Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth).
The slight, as per the Academy’s usual style of sharing their shortsightedness, was only possible to glean via omission — the news had to be parsed from a press release boasting that nominees Lady Gaga, Sam Smith, and the Weeknd would be singing on air.
The next morning, Anohni observed that the Oscars had added her gender to the “trivia” page of their website. But as of March 12, 2023, that detail appears to have been removed.
The struggle not to attend
On her website and Pitchfork, Anohni wrote a heartbreaking essay explaining why despite being nominated, she chose not to attend the 88th Academy Awards.
“I am the only [out] transgendered performer ever to have been nominated for an Academy Award, and for that I thank the artists who nominated me. (There was a trans songwriter nominee named Angela Morley in the early ’70s who did some great work behind the scenes.)
I was in Asia when I found out the news. I rushed home to prepare something, in case the music nominees would be asked to perform. Everyone was calling with excited congratulations. A week later, Sam Smith, Lady Gaga, and the Weeknd were rolled out as the evening’s entertainment with more performers ‘soon to be announced.’ Confused, I sat and waited. Would someone be in touch? But as time bore on I heard nothing…
“I have decided not to attend the Academy Awards this election year… I will not be lulled into submission with a few more well manufactured, feel-good ballads and a bit of good old fashioned T. and A.
“They are going to try to convince us that they have our best interests at heart by waving flags for identity politics and fake moral issues. But don’t forget that many of these celebrities are the trophies of billionaire corporations whose only intention it is to manipulate you into giving them your consent and the last of your money.”
Variety (Feb 25, 2016): “Transgender Nominee Anohni to Boycott the Oscars”
Hollywood Reporter (FEBRUARY 25, 2016): “Transgender Nominee Anohni Pens Essay on Why She’s Boycotting the Ceremony”
“Everyone told me that I still ought to attend, that a walk down the red carpet would still be ‘good for my career,’” Anohni continued. “Last night I tried to force myself to get on the plane to fly to L.A. 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.”
“I will not be lulled into submission with a few more well manufactured, feel-good ballads and a bit of good old fashioned T. and A.”
“[This represents] a series of events that occur over years to create a system that has sought to undermine me, at first as a feminist child, and later as an androgynous transwoman.”
“It is a system of social oppression and diminished opportunities for transpeople that has been employed by capitalism in the U.S. to crush our dreams and our collective spirit.”
Go here to read her full letter.
What Anohni’s “Manta Ray”” competed against
Listen to the song: “Manta Ray”
In the category of Best Original Song, the track “Manta Ray” from Racing Extinction competed against “Simple Song #3 from Youth, “Earned It” from 50 Shades of Grey, “Til It Happens to You,” a song about sexual abuse created by Diane Warren and bisexual artist Lady Gaga for The Hunting Ground, and “Writing’s On The Wall” from Spectre, co-composed by Sam Smith.
The winner was “Writing’s On The Wall” from Spectre, with Music and Lyric by Jimmy Napes and non-binary sensation Sam Smith. (Sam also recently won a Grammy for the song “Unholy” with trans singer Kim Petras by their side.)
Is Sam winning in 2016 enough to save the Academy from #OscarsSoCis?
Depends…
Who else did the 2016 Oscars snub?
All Is Yar (FEBRUARY 29, 2016): “The Oscar moment that didn’t happen for soprano Sumi Jo and composer David Lang”
If you watched the 88th Academy Awards last night, you may have noticed that only three of the five songs nominated in the “Best Original Song” category were performed during the ceremony. While this isn’t the first time this has happened, it certainly goes against tradition.
More notably for classical music fans, one of the songs not performed was “Simple Song #3” (from the movie Youth), composed by David Lang and sung by coloratura soprano Sumi Jo.
The official reason for the omission as Variety reported last week: “time constraints.”
In my humble opinion [wrote All Is Yar film critic CK Dexter Haven], that’s — [cough] — bullsh!t — [cough cough]. I’m guessing it had more to do with the genre of the song and the lack of popularity of the principals. If the two songs left out of the show were instead performed by Rihanna and One Direction, you could bet your golden statuette that time would have magically been found.
What did the voices of the 2016 Academy Awards urge the voices of today to remember?
President Barack Obama: “I think when everybody’s story is told, then that makes for better art. That makes for better entertainment. It makes everybody feel part of one American family. So I think, as a whole, the industry should do what every other industry should do, which is to look for talent, provide opportunity to everybody.”
Best Supporting Actress winner Lupita Nyong’o: “I am disappointed by the lack of inclusion in this year’s Academy Awards nominations. It has me thinking about unconscious prejudice and what merits prestige in our culture.” She concluded by saying, “I stand with my peers who are calling for change in expanding the stories that are told and recognition of the people who tell them.”
It’s 2023. How much have the Oscars improved since 2016 and #OscarsSoWhite?
Rolling Stone (MARCH 1, 2023): “Oscars Still #SoWhite, Despite Some Improvements in Nominee Diversity”
…the gains for Best Director and Adapted Screenplay “are largely due to the substantial increase in underrepresented men rather than underrepresented women.”
…the category that comes closest to that threshold is Best Original Song, with underrepresented nominees comprising 37 percent of the category…
Women of color represent just 2 percent of total nominees. Twenty percent of all Black nominees have been in the Best Original Song category.
Only eight women have been nominated for Best Director, four of those nominations came after 2017, and only three women have won.
9% of all Asian Oscar nominees were nominated [in 2022], with the vast majority of them associated with Everything Everywhere All at Once (to boot, nearly a quarter of all Asian Oscar winners were crowned in 2020 and 2021).
[The] study did not look at other “historically marginalized communities” that fall under the #OscarsSoWhite umbrella, such as LGBTQIA+ people and people with disabilities.
In closing: #OscarsSoCis
The Advocate (JANUARY 14, 2016): “Meet the Second-Ever Transgender Oscar Nominee”
“The lack of diversity is sending a clear message to a majority of the audience that you too don’t deserve to be recognized,” lamented Karamo Brown, a gay and black media figure, in an op-ed for The Advocate titled “The Academy Must Honor More Than Straight White People.”
In a recent interview with The Advocate, Taylor, who along with Taylor was among the LGBT magazine’s 40 Under 40 list, expressed [that] an Oscar nomination would have meant a great deal for transgender people. It would not only increase visibility of the community and its struggles, she expressed, but such an honor would also send an important message: “…If I can make it, then you can make it.”
Nominating and yet omitting Anohni from the invited performers in 2016 highlights the need for an inclusive tag. A tag that honors not just cisgender diversity, but all of the diversity that comes from the gender non-conforming people who continue to be invisible to the Academy Awards.
Hear my cry: #OscarsSoCis
See also: An historical analysis of gender and race/ethnicity of all nominees and winners from 1929 to 2023
For my other Oscar 2023 coverage:
The Trans Short Film Version Of Everything Everywhere All At Once
Walter Chaw And Dave Chen Overcome Everything Everywhere All At Once
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The beginning (of #OscarsSoCis)
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