The Clueless actor and Fox News contributor Stacey Dash’s appearance at the Academy awards ceremony was nothing short of awkward. Her cringeworthy appearance was one the awards could’ve done without. Comedian Chris Rock, the host of the Oscar’s show, announced that Dash is now the director of the Oscars minority outreach programme.
“I cannot wait to help my people out. Happy Black History month,” Dash said and then walked off stage shortly afterwards. The moment left many viewers scratching their heads trying to figure out what had happened – and what it meant.
Dash was criticised in January when she was interviewed on the show Fox & Friends and called for the elimination of the Black Entertainment Television (BET) network awards and Black History Month. Her comment was in response to the lack of diversity in award shows.
“We have to make up our minds. Either we want to have segregation or integration, and if we don’t want segregation, then we have to get rid of channels like BET and the BET Awards and the Image Awards, where you’re only awarded if you’re black,” Dash said during the interview. “If it were the other way around, we’d be up in arms. It’s a double standard.” February is celebrated in the United States as Black History Month.
While Dash trended on Twitter on Monday morning for her awkward moment, Leonardo DiCaprio received praise for winning his first Oscar award. DiCaprio, who got a standing ovation at the Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles, took home the best actor award for his role in The Revenant and also drew attention to climate change during his acceptance speech.
Alejandro Iñárritu won the best directing Oscar for The Revenant, an award he also nabbed in 2015 for Birdman. The best picture award went to Spotlight and Brie Larson won the best actress award for her role in Room.
Here is how the internet reacted to DiCaprio’s win.
*tweets
The fashion hits and misses
Hits…
Presenter Charlize Theron arrives. (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson)
Singer Lady Gaga. (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson)
Presenter Whoopi Goldberg and daughter Alex Martin arrive at the 88th Academy Awards. (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson)
Actress Jane Wu. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)
Actress Kerry Washington arrives wearing Versace at the 88th Academy Awards. (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson)
Misses
Actress Amy Poehler. (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson)
Actor Jared Leto. (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson)
Alicia Vikander. (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson)
Kesha thanks Lady Gaga for Oscar performance
Kesha. (REUTERS/Kevork Djansezian)
It’s been an emotional roller coaster for pop singer Kesha, who is in a legal battle with music producer Dr Luke. The singer claims Luke abused her mentally and sexually for a decade. Numerous female entertainers such as Taylor Swift, who donated $250 000 to help Kesha with her legal fees, recently expressed their support for the singer.
Kesha took to Twitter to thank Lady Gaga for her performance of Til it Happens to You from the documentary film, The Hunting Ground. The film zooms in on the alleged incidents of sexual assault on college campuses in the United States.
She also thanked Biden for drawing attention to sexual assaults against women.
“thank u @ladygaga and VP [vice-president]@JoeBiden for bringing attention to sexual assault at the oscars. it hit very close to my heart for obvious reasons,” Kesha tweeted.
Biden, who introduced Lady Gaga’s performance, encouraged Academy Awards viewers to “take the pledge” to end sexual assault on US college campuses.
Emtee and Fifi Cooper score at Metro Awards
Fifi Cooper. (Rajesh Jantilal)
Saturday night was a big night for South African record label Ambitiouz Entertainment, whose artists Emtee Da Hustla (born Mthembeni Ndevu) and Fifi Cooper stole the Metro FM music awards show in Durban on February 27.
Hip-hop artist Emtee won four awards – best remix for Roll Up, best hip-hop, best music video and listener’s choice award, and walked away with R100 000 for each award he won. Motswako rapper Fifi Cooper (born Refilwe Mooketsi), whose win came as a surprise to many, bagged three awards – best newcomer, best produced album and best female album.
Afro-soul singer Nathi, who was a favourite contender, won the best African pop album award for his debut album Buyel’Ekhaya and the song of the year award for his anthem, Nomvula. The song was recently voted as the SABC’s summer song of the year for 2015-2016. Kwaito veteran Arthur Mafokate was honoured with a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to South African music. Last year was a comeback year for Mafokate, who also received the best compilation album award for Summer Ya Di Summer.
Senegal launches music downloading site
Baaba Maal. (REUTERS/Andrea De Silva)
In an attempt to fight music piracy, Senegal has launched the first African music download service, MusikBi. Through this service, the public can pay for music from more than 180 African artists, including such greats as Youssou N’Dour and Baaba Maal.
The service features 42 music styles that include Afrobeat and African folk. The downloading service was launched by Solid, a Dakar-based IT company.
Users can download the songs they want using mobile phone credit in a region where few people have bank cards.