Actor Michelle Yeoh has deleted her Instagram post that highlighted an article about the Best Actress in a Leading Role race at the Oscars, which may have violated the rules of the Academy. The Malaysian actor who has been nominated for her performance in the multiverse-spanning Everything Everywhere All At Once, is the frontrunner in the category to win, which could be historic since it would make Michelle the first Asian actor to win the award in the Academy's almost 100 year-old history. (Also read: Michelle Yeoh is first woman of Asian descent to win top acting award at SAG: 'This is for every girl who looks like me')
Just hours before the Oscars voting closed on March 7, Michelle shared screenshots of a Vogue article written by Radhika Seth titled “It’s Been Over Two Decades Since We’ve Had a Non-White Best Actress Winner. Will That Change in 2023?” which highlighted the lack of diversity in the category- with only one woman of colour winning in the category for Halle Berry in 2001 for Monster's Ball, and Michelle's historic Screen Actor's Guild win that could pave the way for the Academy win.
Going into the Oscars night on March 13, the biggest competition for Michelle Yeoh in the Best Actress category is Cate Blanchett, who is nominated for her performance in Tar. Cate has won majority of the critics circle awards, and the Golden Globe, Critics Choice and BAFTA. The article whose screenshots Michelle highlighted on her Instagram also took note of the possibility of Cate's win, received severe backlash from users online. “Detractors would say that Blanchett’s is the stronger performance—the acting veteran is, indisputably, incredible as the prolific conductor Lydia Tár—but it should be noted that she already has two Oscars. A third would perhaps confirm her status as an industry titan but, considering her expansive and unparalleled body of work, are we still in need of yet more confirmation? Meanwhile, for Yeoh, an Oscar would be life-changing: her name would forever be preceded by the phrase ‘Academy Award winner,’ and it should result in her getting meatier parts, after a decade of being criminally underused in Hollywood,” said the article.
{{/usCountry}}Going into the Oscars night on March 13, the biggest competition for Michelle Yeoh in the Best Actress category is Cate Blanchett, who is nominated for her performance in Tar. Cate has won majority of the critics circle awards, and the Golden Globe, Critics Choice and BAFTA. The article whose screenshots Michelle highlighted on her Instagram also took note of the possibility of Cate's win, received severe backlash from users online. “Detractors would say that Blanchett’s is the stronger performance—the acting veteran is, indisputably, incredible as the prolific conductor Lydia Tár—but it should be noted that she already has two Oscars. A third would perhaps confirm her status as an industry titan but, considering her expansive and unparalleled body of work, are we still in need of yet more confirmation? Meanwhile, for Yeoh, an Oscar would be life-changing: her name would forever be preceded by the phrase ‘Academy Award winner,’ and it should result in her getting meatier parts, after a decade of being criminally underused in Hollywood,” said the article.
{{/usCountry}}Michelle deleted the post shortly afterwards, after having gathered a lot of detractors online that called her out for targeting the other nominee Cate Blanchett in her post. It might also have violated one of the rules of the Academy. As stated in no. 11, “References to Other Nominees,” Part B of the rule of The Academy reads: “any tactic that singles out ‘the competition’ by name or titles is expressly forbidden.”
The Academy has not made any comments on the same.