Why so many celebrities wore a blue ribbon at last night's Oscars

If you tuned in to watch last night's Oscars – why else would you be here!? – then you're probably wondering why so many celebrities were seen wearing a blue ribbon along with their show-stopping outfits.

Famous faces including Cate Blanchett and Bill Nighy wore a blue ribbon at last night's ceremony, as did Jaime Lee Curtis, Paul Mescall, Amy Lou Wood, Sophie Turner and Angela Bassett, among others, at the BAFTAs last month. So, what do the blue ribbons mean?

If you zoom in closely, you can see that the blue ribbons are stamped with a hashtag that reads: #WithRefugees. According to the UN Refugee Agency, the UNHCR, there are more than 103 million forcibly displaced people around the world at the current time. As such, the blue ribbon is a symbol of support to the #WithRefugees Coalition – which is described as "a powerful force for good inspiring work in solidarity with people forced to flee all over the world."

"The wearing of the blue #WithRefugees ribbon on the red carpet sends a powerful visual message that everyone has the right to seek safety – whoever, wherever, whenever they are," a press release from the UNHCR reads.

Speaking about her decision to wear a blue ribbon, Best Supporting Actress winner Curtis told PA: "My friend Cate Blanchett is asking people to remind us all in the midst of all the season of shiny things that of course there are terrible refugee crises going on all over the world everywhere all at once and we need to do our part."

On the topic, Blanchett herself said: "What I love about film is the way it draws us into compelling human themes to uncover the connective tissue that binds us all. Whenever I have met refugees – in places such as Lebanon, Jordan or Bangladesh, in the UK, or back home in Australia – what has struck me has not been their 'otherness' but how many things we share in common."

Learn more about the #WithRefugees Coalition, here.

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