Green Booktook home the 2019Academy Award for Best Picture— and some viewers are not happy about it.
The film, which tells the story of the late Dr. Don Shirley — the real-life African-American pianist, who recruited Italian-American Tony Lip to be his driver as he embarked on a concert tour in the Deep South in 1962 — closed outthe OscarsSunday night with its third win, prompting a number of social media users to express their dissatisfaction on Twitter.
The film also wonBest Original Screenplay,andMahershala Aliscored a trophy forBest Supporting Actor.
“Remember whenGreen Bookwon Best Picture? Man, that choice did not age well,” author Mark Harriswrote.
“In what universe [is]Green Bookbetter thanBlackkklansman,Roma,Black Panther,Favouriteand aStar is Born? America 2019,” writer Wajahat Altweeted.
Film directorSpike Leealso commentedonGreen Book‘s win, after he was reportedly seen turning his back as the film was named Best Picture.
“No, I thought it was courtside at the Garden, and the ref made a bad call,” the die-hard New York basketball team fan said. “The world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden. Knicks coming back next year.”
Green Bookearned mixed reviews when it was released, with some praising its upbeat message about interracial friendship while others criticized its take on racial issues as clichéd or retrograde.
Since then, the film has sparked several additional controversies — and has faced a significant amount of backlash.
Vallelonga had replied to Trump, then running for president, to support Trump’s false claim about Muslims in America cheering on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Patti Perret/Universal
“Muslims in Jersey City cheering when towers went down. I saw it, as you did, possibly on local CBS news,” Vallelonga tweeted at the time. Trump was “100 percent correct,” he claimed.
In a statement to PEOPLE, Vallelonga apologized for the remark.
“I spent my life trying to bring this story of overcoming differences and finding common ground to the screen, and I am incredibly sorry to everyone associated withGreen Book,”he said. (The film’s studio, Universal, had no comment.)
Kevin Winter/Getty
Green Bookdirector Peter Farrelly alsooffered up an apologyfor something shameful he had done in the past: flashing his penis.
“True. I was an idiot,” he said in a statement in January. “I did this decades ago and I thought I was being funny and the truth is I’m embarrassed and it makes me cringe now. I’m deeply sorry.”
In theNewsweekarticle, Diaz, who starred in the Farrelly brothers’ 1998 movieThere’s Something About Mary, recalled auditioning for the hit comedy. “When a director shows you his penis the first time you meet him, you’ve got to recognize the creative genius,” she said at the time.
Writers Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly, and Nick Vallelonga.Kevin Winter/Getty
Representatives for Diaz did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment last month.
In November 2018,Viggo Mortensencame under fire afterusing the n-wordafter a screening.
The 60-year-old actor was at a Q&A for the Oscar contender — which deals with issues of racism and segregation — on Nov. 7 in Los Angeles alongside his costar Ali.
Viggo Mortensen.
During aninterview with Shadow and Act, Dr. Shirley’s nephew Edwin Shirley III and brother Maurice Shirley slammed the film as a “symphony of lies.”
“It was rather jarring,” Edwin told the outlet after seeing the film’s portrayal of his uncle, who is shown as estranged from his family and black culture.
The family said Dr. Shirley was a participant in the civil rights movement and had a bond withDr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“That was very hurtful,” Edwin continued of seeing his uncle being presented as someone he wasn’t. “That’s just 100% wrong.”
“At that point [in 1962 when the events of the film supposedly take place], he had three living brothers with whom he was always in contact with,” Maurice told Shadow and Act.
The family even denied there ever being a friendship between Dr. Shirley and Lip. “It was an employer-employee relationship,” Maurice’s wife Patricia told the publication.
During an interview with NPR, Maurice and Edwin said they received a call from Ali, who apologized.
“What he said was, ‘If I have offended you, I am so, so terribly sorry. I did the best I could with he material I had. I was not aware that there were close relatives with whom I could have consulted to add some nuance to the character,” Edwin said,Indie Wire reported.
Dr. Shirley died in 2013.
The 91st Academy Awards were broadcast live from Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 24 on ABC.
source: people.com
