By Last night, the 89th Academy Awards brought together many of the people behind the magic of motion pictures. While the evening celebrated the greatest works of this past year, it also served another purpose: the ULTIMATE star-studded clap-back to Trump’s travel ban.
Here’s how the Oscars used their stage to tell Trump how they REALLY felt.
Starting on the red carpet a number of nominees chose to model a light blue accessory to represent the American Civil Liberties Union. The ribbons brought their designer gowns and tuxedos to the next level.
"I'm wearing an ACLU ribbon because they're fighting incredible fights right now for American ideals." –@lin_manuel #Oscars #Oscars2017 pic.twitter.com/pypW1erdQU
— ACLU (@ACLU) February 26, 2017
The travel ban affected the Oscar award winners themselves.
Despite being nominated for an award and having a visa to attend the event, “White Helmet’s” Syrian cinematographer Khaled Khatib was denied entry into the United States. Khatib is a member of the Syrian Civil Defense (the group profiled in the short documentary) himself.
The Department of homeland security claimed to have found “derogatory information” that would prevent Khatib from arriving in Los Angeles and joining in the film’s Oscar acceptance. Khatib took to Twitter following the win and the standing ovation that it received in order to stress what this meant to the struggling people of Syria.
The world stands with the white helmets. – Standing ovation at the Oscars. We have won. Thank you all for your support.#Oscars 💪🏻 pic.twitter.com/yK5rDClsSu
— Khaled Khatib (@995Khaled) February 27, 2017
In a moment that took the award for biggest “f*** you” to Trump, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi won his second Best Foreign Language Film Oscar for “The Salesman” and, in protest to Trump’s #MuslimBan, refused to attend and delivered a statement read by none other than the first Muslim woman to explore space, Anousheh Ansari:
The Iranian director of this year's Best Foreign Language Film sent a powerful message without even attending the Oscars. pic.twitter.com/1HD1dWxBeI
— Global Citizen (@GlblCtzn) February 27, 2017
It read:
“It’s a great honor to be receiving this valuable award for the second time. I would like to thank the members of the academy, my crew in Iran, my producer, Amazon, and my fellow nominees.
I’m sorry I’m not with you tonight. My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and those of other six nations whom have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the US. Dividing the world into the “us” and “our enemies” categories creates fear. A deceitful justification for aggression and war. These wars prevent democracy and human rights in countries which have themselves been victims of aggression.
Filmmakers can turn their cameras to capture shared human qualities and break stereotypes of various nationalities and religions. They create empathy between us and others. An empathy which we need today more than ever.”
Farhadi’s anti-Trump and anti-ban protest was one of the highlights of the Oscars. He stressed the importance of taking what filmmakers do and applying it to our current political climate. Without even attending, Farhadi spoke volumes.
The night did not fall short of political statements. What were some of your favorite moments from #OscarsSoAntiTrump?