Michelle Yeoh Explains Why She Handed Emma Stone's Oscar To Jennifer Lawrence
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Michelle Yeoh is clearing up confusion about what really happened while presenting Emma Stone with the best actress Oscar.
On Sunday night, the “Everything, Everywhere All At Once” star, who was holding the statuette, handed Jennifer Lawrence the Oscar first — so Lawrence could give it to her “best friend” herself.
“Congratulations Emma!!” Yeoh wrote Monday on Instagram. “I confused you , but I wanted to share that glorious moment of handing over Oscar to you together with your best friend Jennifer!! She reminded me of my Bae Jamie Lee Curtis.”
“Bae” is an term of endearment that means “before anyone else.”
The 96th Academy Awards ceremony kept with tradition in having prior winners present the Oscar in various categories. Yeoh, who won best actress for “Everything, Everywhere All At Once” last year, nonetheless chose to remove herself from the moment.
Some Instagram users had accused Stone of being “rude” and suggested she “held on to” the Oscar and “pulled it over to Jennifer” so Lawrence “could hand it to her” instead of Yeoh.
Some even contended that Stone’s supposed snub was rooted in racism.
“Yeoh had not confused her,” wrote one person in a comment with more than 1,500 likes. “What Emma did was just that white people do in front of non white people, saying ‘omg i was so confused sorryyyyy u know she’s my bestieee’. So typical racial discrimination.”
Yeoh concluded her caption by noting Lawrence and Stone are “always there for each other,” however, just as she and Curtis have been since “Everything” swept last year’s ceremony and they became fellow Oscar winners after Curtis’ best supporting actress win.
Stone herself was rather shaken after being named on Sunday, as fellow nominee Lily Gladstone was deemed a favorite for her “Killers of the Flower Moon” performance — which would have made her the first Native American actor to win a competitive Oscar.
Stone, who championed Gladstone at the SAG Awards last month, included her in Sunday’s win and said: “Lily, I share this with you. I am in awe of you. And it’s been such an honor to do all this together. I hope we get to do more together.”
