[The Soup Nazi]

 

Not that any of this Oscars horseshit matters in terms of the films' actual quality, but I think socially this open letter by Anohni (Antony Hegarty) is significant. So much for the Academy's "diversity improvement" plan. And by the way, the transgendered community sure as fuck needs better public persons than that turd who came out of the Kardashians' show.


"WHY I AM NOT ATTENDING THE ACADEMY AWARDS
by Anohni, Oscar Nominee for best song ('Manta Ray' with composer J. Ralph)

I am the only transgendered performer ever to have been nominated for an Academy Award, and for that I thank the artists who nominated me. (There was a trans songwriter nominee named Angela Morley in the early '70s who did some great work behind the scenes.) I was in Asia when I found out the news. I rushed home to prepare something, in case the music nominees would be asked to perform. Everyone was calling with excited congratulations. A week later, Sam Smith, Lady Gaga and the Weekend were rolled out as the evening's entertainment with more performers 'soon to be announced'. Confused, I sat and waited. Would someone be in touch? But as time bore on I heard nothing. I was besieged with people asking me if I was going to perform.

My anxiety increased as weeks passed. I slowly realized that the positive implication of this nomination was being retracted. The producers seemed to have decided to stage performances only by the singers who were deemed commercially viable. Composer David Lang's song 'Simple Song #3' performed by South Korean soprano Sumi Jo was also omitted.

It was degrading to watch the articles in Variety, The Daily Telegraph, Pitchfork, Stereogum, etc. start to appear. Eclipsing earlier notices of congratulations, now the papers were naming me as one of two artists to have been 'cut' by the Academy due to 'time constraints.' In the next sentence it was announced that Dave Grohl, not nominated in any category, had been added to the list of performers.

Everyone told me that I still ought to attend, that a walk down the red carpet would still be 'good for my career.'

Last night I tried to force myself to get on the plane to fly to LA for all the nominee events, but the feelings of embarrassment and anger knocked me back, and I couldn't get on the plane. I imagined how it would feel for me to sit amongst all those Hollywood stars, some of the brave ones approaching me with sad faces and condolences. There I was, feeling a sting of shame that reminded me of America's earliest affirmations of my inadequacy as a transperson. I turned around at the airport and went back home.

As if to rub salt into the wound, the next morning the Oscars added that I was transgendered to the trivia page of their website.

I want to be clear - I know that I wasn't excluded from the performance directly because I am transgendered. I was not invited to perform because I am relatively unknown in the U.S., singing a song about ecocide, and that might not sell advertising space. It is not me that is picking the performers for the night, and I know that I don't have an automatic right to be asked.

But if you trace the trail of breadcrumbs, the deeper truth of it is impossible to ignore. Like global warming, it is not one isolated event, but a series of events that occur over years to create a system that has sought to undermine me, at first as a feminine child, and later as an androgynous transwoman. It is a system of social oppression and diminished opportunities for transpeople that has been employed by capitalism in the US to crush our dreams and our collective spirit.

I was told during my 20s and 30s there was no chance that someone like me could have a career in music, and this perspective was reiterated by so many industry 'professionals' and media outlets that I lost count. I almost gave up. Thankfully, fellow artists like Lou Reed advocated for me so intensely that I got a foothold despite the worst intentions of others. In that sense, I am one of the luckiest people in the world.

I enjoy that wild and reckless exhilaration that comes from naming my truth as best as I can; it is what Nina Simone might have called a 'boon'. The truth is that I was not groomed for stardom and watered down for your enjoyment. As a transgendered artist, I have always occupied a place outside of the mainstream. I have gladly paid a price for speaking my truth in the face of loathing and idiocy.

At the age of 35 I was awarded the UK's Mercury Prize. All the nominees were invited to perform that night. They lifted me from obscurity and celebrated me, setting off a chain of events that changed my life forever.

Now ten years later, I have sung for millions of people in some of the most beautiful theaters in the world, from the London Opera House to a tiny shed full of Aboriginal women elders in the Western Australian desert. I have accomplished so many of my dreams. I have collaborated with musicians and artists whom I deeply respect. I have held space for feminism, eco-consciousness, and trans advocacy for 2 decades. I have been afforded a platform to participate in the cultural conversation.

I brought my earnings from around the world home to New York City and paid my taxes. That money was spent by the U.S. government on Guantanamo Bay, drone bombs, surveillance, capital punishment, prisons for whistleblowers, corporate subsidies and bank bailouts.

In the United States it is all about money: those who have it and those who don't. Identity politics are often used as a smokescreen to distract us from this viral culture of wealth extraction. When we are not extracting wealth from nature, we are extracting it from the working and middle classes.

So I have decided not to attend the Academy Awards this election year. I will not be lulled into submission with a few more well manufactured, feel-good ballads and a bit of good old fashioned T. and A. They are going to try to convince us that they have our best interests at heart by waving flags for identity politics and fake moral issues. But don't forget that many of these celebrities are the trophies of billionaire corporations whose only intention it is to manipulate you into giving them your consent and the last of your money. They have been paid to do a little tap dance to occupy you while Rome burns. These are the last days of a great American fake-out sponsored by Exxon Mobile, Walmart, Amazon, Google and Phillip Morris. America, a country that is no longer contained by physical borders, aspires only for more power and control. I want to maximize my usefulness and advocate for the preservation of biodiversity and the pursuit of human decency within my sphere of influence."

http://www.undertheradarmag.com/news/anohni_issues_statement_about_being_cut_from_the_o scars_ceremony/

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Reality is EVERY artist should feel this person's anxiety at becoming a corporate whore. I applaud this person for boycotting and speaking out. Fuck the Oscars fuck the Grammys fuck all that corporate bullshit

Is it no wonder that not only is "selling out" no longer a pejorative, its a career goal? Look at all the artists and high caliber actors doing corporate commercials to sell corporate products,branding, and image. Its pathetic. Fuck this era, we have returned to the "studio system" of the 1950s. What a sad regression from a strictly art for art's sake perspective

[EVOLghost]

That's some real shit right there...damn.

[evollove]

She's just selling out to the anti-sell-out crowd.

Kidding. My new idol.

[Rob Instigator]

I actually shut off the Oscars and I always watch the shit. it was so bad. Chris rock sucked, and I dug him the previous time he hosted. It was just so slow and boring and pathetic, and the way the director cut off people was terrible. When AMY won for best documentary the director and producer of it were disgusted that the shit ass Oscar orchestra played a jaunty and sacharinne rendition of Rehab. Poor taste there....

Also, when Benicio del Toro introduced the Revenant for best picture, and they showed the clip, they cut to a guy in a bear outfit clapping, and the look on the Revenant director's face when they cut to him for half a second was brutality itself.....so insulting.

[tesla69]

Originally Posted by The Soup Nazi

And by the way, the transgendered community sure as fuck needs better public persons than that turd who came out of the Kardashians' show.g

\

It must be weird to be a "hot" young woman with a father who wants to be you.

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by The Soup Nazi

And by the way, the transgendered community sure as fuck needs better public persons than that turd who came out of the Kardashians' show.

I swear I'm not making this up:

Caitlyn Jenner Supports Ted Cruz, Wants To Be Cruz's 'Trans Ambassador'