There’s no debating that host Chris Rock has absolutely crushed it during the first hour of tonight’s Academy Awards. His fire commentary on #OscarsSoWhite is everything we could have hoped for and more. But while we thought we’d seen the worst of bricked jokes with that feigned Ryan Goslingand Russell Crowe beef to announce the Adapted Screenplay category, we really weren’t ready for whatever was going on with that 10-second Stacey Dash cameo in which she wished the Oscars audience a happy Black History Month.
No stranger to controversy (and her fair share of racist trolling), tonight wouldn’t be the first time that Dash has said something that set the Internet aflame. But this…this was something else. When Chris Rock introduced her following a great sketch of Oscar finalists re-imagined with black actors, Stacey took the stage and said:
…And that was pretty much it. Understandably, the Internet (and Oscars audience) reacted accordingly—the Oscars attendees with complete silence (heard above), and Twitter with the following:
The Weeknd, ladies and gentlemen:
And then, Stacey Dash dropped her response to what we can probably assume she foresaw happening. In an article titled “Who is Stacey Dash and why did she just walk across the #Oscar stage?,” she wrote the following:
When they added ME to increase the diversity, I’m sure many black people rolled their eyes. I’m not “black enough,” they say. But guess what? I’ve heard that all my life. I would rather be a free thinking, black than a cookie cutter black who thinks – and votes – just like all my friends.
Yes, I’m the actress from the South Bronx who has always dreamed of winning an Oscar. But God has a great sense of humor and this is my first encounter with one of my dreams of destiny. Bringing diversity to Hollywood… not merely because of color, but politics as well. (After all, different colors of skin is an easy kind of diversity. Ideological diversity is much harder, because it forces everyone to come face to face with actual beliefs. Hollywood needs BOTH.)
You can read her article in full here.
