There's another controversy regarding the Oscars that isn't getting as much attention. Chris Rock announced the "Summer of Soul" winners as "Ahmir Thompson, and four white guys." One of the winners was Joseph Patel who later said: I can't imagine what it feels like to be dismissed as one of four white guys after all the work involved in making a movie and the prestige earned by an Oscar win. I find this especially egregious given the fight for representation at the 2016 Oscars: #OscarsSoWhite. Rock's opening speech and comments throughout the 2016 show were aimed at racism and lack of representation at the Oscars. And then he marginalizes another minority in 2022. Will Rock have the decency to apologize? .
Did Chris Rock read out a script that he was handed by the event organizers or did he make his own remarks off the cuff? The rest of the ceremony is meticulously choreographed but I assume the remarks prepared for the prize winners are not pre-rehearsed.
So, Summer of Soul won for best documentary. It was directed by Ahmir Thompson (black), and produced by: Robert Fyvolent (white) David Dinerstein (white) Joseph Patel (Indian origin) Chris Rock announced the winners as "Ahmir Thompson and four white guys" which outraged Joseph Patel who took to twitter three days later and vented, along with calling Chris Rock "you absolute rhymes-with-duckling rhymes-with-flick. Would it have politically ok and mathematically accurate if Chris Rock had said "Ahmir Thompson and three not-black guys"? Patel should get over it. - Only one of the winner's names being announced for a group win is standard. - Someone did not research properly if the three producers were all white. That's all the error that happened. Patel said: "Was a big night for documentaries.." - honestly the Oscars have lost much of their glitter, and within that the documentary is an award most people take a break from watching TV. Patel said: ".. big night for South Asians ... he (Patel) was the third South Asian and tenth ever to win that night" - hardly anyone cares or is keeping that count. He also vented about the Will Smith slap took away from his big moment. Oh well <shrug> Such whining about an inaccurate joke makes actual racist trends, words, and the actual marginalization of minorities harder to recognize and condemn. For someone so big on South Asian representation, Patel is reported to be reticent about his ethnicity. A casual search showed that he has not made public his exact age, ethnicity, nationality, parents info. He doesn't have a Wikipedia page. Even websites that provide all janam-kundli info about celebrities (birth, parents, education, pets, pet-names ...) have been unable to unearth that info.
Yeah this behavior is taking it to the other extreme of only highlighting african american winner name and trivializing the white guys. In trying to get their race highlighted, African american actors are disrespecting others. there was no need to call the race at all. Just say Ahmir Thompson and team of 3 producers. Thats it.
There's a template for announcing winners. Rock ignored the script and chose to say "four white guys" instead. He had planned this ahead of the Oscars. .