With less than a few hours to go before Oscar voting ends, Michelle Yeoh just did something on social media that has more than a few people buzzing.
In a nutshell, Yeoh posted on Instagram a Vogue piece — titled “It’s Been Over Two Decades Since We’ve Had a Non-White Best Actress Winner. Will That Change in 2023?” — that made the argument against Cate Blanchett winning.
Yeoh broke Academy rules by including Blanchett's name in her Instagram post. Simple as that. The Vogue piece she posted makes the case for Yeoh to win the Oscar because she is Asian and Blanchett has already won it twice.
People argued that Andrea Riseborough should have been disqualified for Frances Fisher telling voters not to vote for certain nominees. Here, we have something far worse: an actual nominee telling voters not to vote for a fellow nominee.
This clearly goes against Academy rules, encouraging someone from voting for another nominee in her category. She could have at least waited until tomorrow when voting had closed
EDIT: She’s now deleted the article. She knows she f*cked up.
We’ll see if this overshadows a Yeoh win on Sunday evening by turning it into a political debate. I’m surprised she decided to post this, because it feels like it can do more damage than good.
Is it unprofessional? Of course, but, at this point, I don’t see how she can be disqualified. What is clear is that she’s quite thirsty for that Oscar.