Jamie Lee Curtis Calls for Gender Parity at the Oscars: ‘More Women Anywhere, Anytime, All at Once’

Source: IndieWire
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Fresh off her Best Supporting Actress Oscar win, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” star Jamie Lee Curtis is calling for more women to be considered in all categories.

Backstage speaking to press after her first Oscar win, the Hollywood veteran said that being among the 65 women nominated for an Academy Award this year is “surreal,” and that “obviously, I would like to see a lot more women be nominated so that there’s gender parity in all the areas and all the branches, and I think we’re getting there. We’re not anywhere near there [yet].”

Curtis then clarified that she understood both the push to make more categories gender neutral, and the hypothetical complications that could come with that. “That involves the bigger question, ‘How do you include everyone when there are binary choices?,’ which is very difficult, and as the mother of a trans daughter, I completely understand that,” said the actress. “And yet to de-gender the category, I’m concerned [it] will diminish the opportunities for more women, which is something I also have been working hard to try to promote.”

Some awards bodies that have recently switched to gender neutral categories include the Gotham Awards and the Film Independent Spirit Awards, who both gave their Best Lead Performance award to a female nominee and their Best Supporting Performance to a male nominee.

The energetic Curtis summed up her stance by saying, “The most important thing is inclusivity, and more women, and basically just fucking more women anywhere, anytime, all at once.”

Though some may find her answer provocative, it was a different part of the backstage interview that had the new Oscar winner jokingly telling assembled press, “Please do not cancel me!” Curtis did not realize that the virtual questions came from credentialed reporters Zooming in to the ceremony, rather than randomly sourced Twitter queries.

When she was told a virtual question was coming in next, she joked that, “The virtual people don’t get shit. They don’t get the food. They don’t get water. They’re at home their kids are screaming. their husband’s cheating on them. They are so bummed out they want to be here with you people.” The journalist waiting to ask the question, Zooming in from Hungary, gamely told the winner, “I have food!”

Should anyone have an issue with that particular joke, Curtis added with a laugh, “Cancel me tomorrow. Just not tonight! Give me a break.”

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