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People Aren’t Happy About Sam Smith’s Oscar Acceptance Speech

Last night Sam Smith won the Oscar for Best Original Song, for ‘Writing’s On The Wall’.

This was a shocker in itself, as most people were expecting Lady Gaga to take home the gold (for Til It Happens to You).

But it wasn’t to be. Sam won, and a lot of people (if not everybody) were thrilled:

Now, in his acceptance speech, Sam referenced an Ian Mckellen interview:

“I read an article a few months ago by Sir Ian McKellen and he said no openly gay man had won an oscar.If this is the case even if it isn’t the case I want to dedicate this to the LGBT community around the world. I stand here tonight as a proud gay man and I hope that we can all stand as equals one day.”

Unfortunately for Sam, he’d misremembered the quote. What Ian McKellen actually said was that no openly gay actor had ever won an Oscar – in fact plenty of gay people have won Academy Awards.

Elton John, Melissa Etheridge and Stephen Sondeheim have allwon for Best Original Song, and Dustin Lance Black has won for Best Original Screenplay. While we’re sure that Sam wasn’t trying to take away from their achievements, people are slightly irritated that he’s celebrating an LGBT milestone that he himself didn’t achieve.

None more so than Dustin Lance Black, who won in 2009 for his screenplay, ‘Milk’.

Dustin’s fianc is Olympic diver Tom Daley. Awkward…

While we’re sure that Sam made an honest mistake, and was overwhelmed by his surprise win, it’s being suggested that if Sam wants to talk about the struggle for LGBT representation, he should understand and acknowledge those who came before him (maybe by looking up past Oscar winners…).

What do you think? Let us know in the comments..

Image Credits: Women’s Ilab, Instinct Magazine, Telegraph

Read more: http://www.hellou.co.uk/2016/02/people-arent-happy-about-sam-smiths-oscar-acceptance-speech-82454/

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