David Oyelowo said he and the Selma cast and crew faced backlash for supporting Eric Garner
David Oyelowo says, after the cast & crew of @ava's 'Selma' wore 'I Can't Breathe' t-shirts in remembrance of Eric Garner, Academy members said they were "stirring shit" and wouldn't vote for the film as "it wasn't their place to do that."
Full story: https://t.co/iDhdG5jTNi pic.twitter.com/qH0nIaxFb1
- Screen International (@Screendaily) June 4, 2020
- Back in 2014 the filming of Selma, Ava DuVernay's biopic on Martin Luther King, coincided with the murder of Eric Garner by the police
- His murder was captured on tape and his last words "I can't breathe" were adopted by the Black Lives Matter movement
- To protest the refusal to indict Eric Garner's murderer the cast wore "I can't breathe" t-shirts to the premiere
- David Oyelowo revealed that members of AMPAS called up the studio and warned them that they would refuse to vote for the film: I remember at the premiere of Selma us wearing ‘I Can’t Breathe’ T-shirts in protest. Members of the Academy called in to the studio and our producers saying, ‘How dare they do that? Why are they stirring S-H-I-T?’ and ‘We are not going to vote for that film because we do not think it is their place to be doing that.'
- The film did go on to recieve nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Song (which it won)
- Director Ava DuVernay confirmed the story
True story. https://t.co/l7j8EUg3cC
- Ava DuVernay (@ava) June 5, 2020
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