Everything Everywhere All At Once Director Slams Anti-Drag Bills In Oscar Speech

Queer films took out top honours at the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday night. Everything Everywhere All At Once was named Best Picture, while Michelle Yeoh (Everything…) and Brendan Fraser (The Whale) won awards in the Best Actor and Actress categories respectively. 

While there were no queer winners in the major categories, there were queer moments during the ceremony, including when the director of Everything… took a dig at Republican lawmakers in the US who are pushing anti-drag bills.

In the sci-fi dramedy Everything Everywhere All At Once, Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan (who won the Best Supporting Actor award) are parents to a queer daughter (out actor Stephanie Hsu, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress).

Mother Of A Trans Daughter

Michelle Yeoh accepts her #Oscar for Best Actress: "For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities. This is proof that dreams do come true." https://t.co/ndiKiHfmID pic.twitter.com/pQN8nHDhCx

— Variety (@Variety) March 13, 2023

Yeoh, who became the first Asian Actor and the second actress of colour to win a Best Actress Oscar, and Jamie Lee Curtis (who won Best Supporting Actress), also play a queer couple in one of the metaverses in the film. 

Curtis, an outspoken ally, acknowledged her two daughters (including her trans daughter Ruby) in her acceptance speech. 

Brendan Fraser accepts the #Oscar for Best Actor for #TheWhale. https://t.co/ndiKiHfmID pic.twitter.com/kNuDy85dpH

— Variety (@Variety) March 13, 2023

Speaking to the press backstage, Curtis said she wanted more inclusivity and  “more women anywhere anytime all at once.” 

“Inclusivity then invokes the bigger questions of, ‘How do you include everyone when there are binary choices?’ It’s difficult, and as the mother of a trans daughter, I understand that,” said Curtis. The actor also addressed growing demands to eliminate gendered acting categories. 

Jamie Lee Curtis accepts the #Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. https://t.co/ndiKiHfmID pic.twitter.com/bGBtrI3k0g

— Variety (@Variety) March 13, 2023

“But to degender the category I am concerned will diminish the opportunities for more women which is what I am working towards, and it is a complicated question,” Curtis said.

‘Drag Is A Threat To Nobody’

"Or dressing in drag as a kid, which is a threat to NOBODY." #Oscars pic.twitter.com/IRf4B2pn1o

— GLAAD (@glaad) March 13, 2023

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who won best director and best original screenplay for Everything… had a message for Republican lawmakers who are passing anti-drag bills across the US. 

Scheinert thanked his parents for not quashing his creativity when he was making films, “or dressing in  drag as a kid, which is a threat to Nobody.”

Brendan Fraser won Best Actor for his film The Whale, where he plays a 600-pound, gay English teacher trying to reconnect with his teenage daughter. 

Australian actor Cate Blanchett, who played a lesbian conductor in Tar, and was one of the other favourites at the Academy Awards, lost out to Yeoh.

Lukas Dhont’s queer film Close lost to All Quiet On The Western Front in the Best International Film award category. The other queer moments included Lady Gaga performing her Oscar-nominated song Hold My Hand from the film Top Gun: Maverick.