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Tag: 2014 Oscar Awards

  • Liza Minnelli Responds To Ellen’s Oscar Joke

    Maybe you didn’t notice, but Ellen DeGeneres was very Ricky-Gervais-like when she hosted the Oscar Awards on Sunday.

    Usually, the comedian and talk show host is silly rather than snarky, but the other night she threw a some really good stingers at a few celebrities in the audience. But perhaps the stinger that received the most attention was the one she hurled at Liza Minnelli.

    “And I have to say one of the most amazing Liza Minnelli impersonators I have seen in my entire life,” said DeGeneres from the stage, which of course drew lots of chuckles. “Just really, seriously, Good job, sir.”

    When the camera panned over to Minnelli, she wasn’t smiling at all. In fact, it was easy to see that she was uncomfortable, and recently she told TMZ she thought DeGeneres took things too far.

    “I think she thought it would be funny,” said the legendary entertainer. “But she never stopped after she said it, so I think it went a little astray on her.”

    And Minnelli wasn’t the only one who felt offended. Steve Schonberg, theater-writer and big Minnelli supporter, created a petition on Change.org to get DeGeneres to apologize.

    And despite the comedian being gay herself, Schonberg said he found her joke to be homophobic. “Specifically, I was most offended that Ellen would act that way as a fellow gay person,” wrote Schonberg. “Liza has been such an avid supporter of our community, even during the peak of the AIDS crisis, and simply put, I think she deserves more respect.”

    But Minnelli didn’t believe DeGeneres was being disrespectful, she just thinks she was being too harsh, and even though the 67 year old probably wishes the joke was never made, she still feels it didn’t come from a mean place.

    “I don’t think she meant any harm at all,” said Minnelli. “She’s a wonderful lady.”

    Image via YouTube

  • Poor Leo: Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscar Loss Makes for Meme Fun

    One man’s misery is apparently another man’s fun, as evidenced by the response to actor Leonardo DiCaprio losing out on yet another Oscar. The Wolf of Wall Street actor was nominated for Best Actor only to lose to Dallas Buyers Club star Matthew McConaughey. This is the fourth time DiCaprio has been nominated in either the Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor category only to go home with a loss. While a few fans were quick to reach out to DiCaprio and offer their condolences on Twitter, others decided to have fun and #PoorLeo was born.

    So, what does one do when a great actor loses out on the highest level of achievement in his field yet again? Create GIFs and memes, of course. The hashtag #PoorLeo quickly went viral after the Best Actor announcement on Sunday night, and the top trend lasted well into Monday. Even though some of the fire has died down a little, people are still getting their jollies with the Poor Leo fun.

    Check out the GIF one enterprising individual put together featuring DiCaprio and McConaughey:

    (image)

    A couple of posters used a seemingly unrelated event to poke fun at DiCaprio’s misery. Remember the Ellen DeGeneres selfie from the Academy Awards that pretty much everyone retweeted? It made Twitter history being the most retweeted post ever.

    As you’ll notice, DiCaprio is nowhere to be found in the group of celebrities, which prompted these little gems:

    Here are a few other Poor Leo memes. You can find more by searching for the hashtag #PoorLeo on Twitter.

    Even though not winning an Oscar again had to sting for DiCaprio, he was a graceful loser and quick to offer McConaughey his congratulations and a quick embrace. Maybe next year, Leo.

    Images via Wikimedia Commons, Tumblr

  • Lupita Nyong’o Is Pride Of Kenya Since Oscar Win

    Ever since actor Lupita Nyong’o has been winning award after award for her performance in the film 12 Years a Slave, everyone has been trying to claim her.

    Because since she was born in Mexico, some in that country are claiming Nyong’o, and since she’s now living in Brooklyn and officially a Brooklynite, some in New York are taking credit for her win too.

    But probably the place that’s most proud of the 31 year old is her home country of Kenya, as she spent most of her childhood there. Her father Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o is a longtime Kenyan politician.

    Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta, sent out a tweet after Nyong’o won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, saying not only is he and the entire country extremely proud of her, so is the whole continent of Africa.

    “Congratulations on your Oscar win,” wrote Kenyatta. “You are the Pride of Africa.”

    Wanjira Maathai, fellow Kenyan and daughter of Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan Nobel Prize winner, said she hoped Nyong’o would walk away with the Oscar, and when she did, most Kenyan’s felt they won something too.

    “We all had hoped of course that she would win,” said Maathai at a conference in the United Nations building. “Everybody feels a sudden attachment to her, she’s a Kenyan woman. A lot of her work, a lot of her experience in film started in Kenya.”

    In addition, Maathai said Nyong’o is a product of black actresses before her that struggled to break into Hollywood, and without them she wouldn’t have won an Oscar last night, or even had the opportunity to act on a mainstream level.

    “She attributes to her sucess to a lot of other black actresses who made her believe she could be something and that she could make it in film,” said Maathai. “And I think it’s so important to have role medels, so important to have people who you can say, ‘Ah, if she made it, maybe I can too.’”

    Image via YouTube

  • Kate Mara Asked Rooney Mara for David Fincher Advice

    SPOILERS BELOW…

    House of Cards star Kate Mara, 31, admitted in a recent interview that she asked her sister Rooney Mara for advice on working with director David Fincher in the hit Netflix series.

    “I ask my sister for advice if I’m ever questioning whether to take a job. I called her for advice on Fincher when I first started working with him.”

    Rooney Mara, 28, worked with Fincher on 2010’s The Social Network and in the 2011 movie adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s best-selling Scandinavian thriller The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

    Mara has been acting a few years longer than her younger sister.

    “It’s such a special thing to have a family member doing the same job as you. She didn’t start acting until much later, but it makes me feel sort of looked-after, having her and knowing that she “gets” it,” she said.

    Mara has been busy promoting Season Two of House of Cards which released February 14 on Netflix.

    The political drama is a Netflix original series starring Kevin Spacey as scheming politician Frank Underwood and Robin Wright as his wife Claire. Mara stars as political journalist Zoe Barnes. Barnes is killed in the first episode of Season Two,

    Of her departure from the show, Mara has said “… I was bummed to leave, but I was also so excited about what we had done.”

    Next up for Mara is the April release of the science fiction thriller Transcendence in which she stars opposite Johnny Depp.

    She’s also starring in the true-life thriller Captive which is scheduled for a 2014 release. It was recently announced that she’s been cast in the remake of The Fantastic Four.

    Rooney Mara starred in 2013’s Side Effects with Jude Law and Channing Tatum and in the critically acclaimed Her which has been nominated for five Oscar Awards.

    She stars opposite Martin Sheen in the British drama Trash, which is scheduled for a May 2014 release in the UK.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Ellen DeGeneres Talks About Coming Out 17 Years Ago

    It’s hard to believe that Ellen DeGeneres is 56 years old, because she has a child-like exuberance that’s suited her well throughout most of her career, and it made her one of the most beloved talk show hosts of all time.

    And just think, there was a time not too long ago when her career was in question because she announced to the public that she was gay.

    Believe it or not that was 17 years ago, and if you remember, the controversy that followed her announcement was huge, and DeGeneres said the whole thing really took her for a loop.

    “I thought everyone knew me and I didn’t think that one little adjective was going to define me,” she said in an interview with People magazine. “I didn’t have perspective for a while.”

    The stand-up comedian also said that’s she’s removed from the entire experience, like it happened to somebody else. “Now I look at it as a movie that I saw that someone went through,” said DeGeneres. “And I only experience the amazing life that I have right now.”

    And part of the reason her life is so amazing is because her relationship with actress Portia de Rossi is so solid, she says, and people shouldn’t believe the tabloid stories that say the two of them are on the rocks.

    “The tabloids had a photo of Portia not wearing her wedding ring,” explained DeGeneres, who’s hosting this year’s Oscar Awards. “She goes, ‘I didn’t wear it because when I ride horses and I’m holding reins, it gives me a blister.’”

    DeGeneres says her feelings for de Rossi are stronger now than they’ve ever been before. “The truth is, and this is corny, I fall more in love with Portia all the time. I really do,” she said.

    “She surprises me all the time. It’s what anyone experiences when you find that person that gets you, wants to take care of you, wants the best for you. We’re really lucky because we know how rare it is.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons