One of the producers of “Summer of Soul”, a documentary awarded at the 94th Academy Awards on March 27, expresses his anger at Will Smith’s gesture and regrets that the actor “stole the moment” from his category.
The 94th Academy Awards, held on March 27, is not about to be forgotten. After a joke directed at Jada Pinkett-Smith, comedian and comedian Chris Rock was slapped by the actress’ husband – and future Oscar winner – Will Smith. The gesture eclipsed the whole evening and, alas, the many rewarded artists. One of the winners did not hesitate to express his anger.
A few seconds after the stroke of blood of the American star, the team of the film Summer of Soul goes on the stage to recover the Oscar for the best documentary. One of the producers, Joseph Patel, returned to the incident in a series of tweets – now deleted – and laments the invisibility of their victory: “The reason all of this makes me VERY ANGRY is because I was proud to be one of the few South Asians to win an Oscar in the history of the ceremony..”
He pursues : “I was thrilled to be the third South Asian artist to win an award that night – after Riz Ahmed and Aneil Karia for The Long Goodbye [l’Oscar du meilleur court métrage, ndlr]. Three South Asians winning on the same night has never happened before. It is significant! It’s historic !”
The producer also explains that he did not accept one of Chris Rock’s jokes during the announcement of the winners. Opening the envelope, the comedian said: “And the winner is summer of soulAhmir Khalib Thompson [le réalisateur, ndlr] and four white guys!“Joseph Patel’s reaction is sharp: “I don’t have the heart to see the ceremony again. I will probably never see her again. Thanks Chris – you really are an asshole.”
Summer of Soul on Disney+: the true story of Black Woodstock, an unknown event
About Will Smith, the producer says: “What Will did is selfish. He robbed the category of its moment. It stole the moment from other excellent films that gained recognition after a great year for documentaries. And he stole the moment of summer of soul and our team.”
The actor, Oscar winner for The Williams Method, apologized twice and has since resigned from the Academy of Oscars following his gesture.
summer of soul by Ahmir Khalib Thompson – also called Questlove – looks back on the Harlem Cultural Festival, a celebration of black music in 1969, totally eclipsed by the success of Woodstock the same year.
summer of soul is available on Disney+.