Sam Smith Erroneous Oscar Fact Creates Controversy

One comment made by Sam Smith during his Oscar acceptance speech has caused social media controversy, to the extent where Smith has reportedly stepped away from Twitter indefinitely.

After winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song for his theme to Spectre, Sam Smith quoted actor Ian McKellen in his acceptance speech as saying that no openly gay person had ever won an Academy Award. This statement is actually false, and, although it was an innocent mistake on the part of Smith, his comment has created controversy on social media platform Twitter.

In the interview in question, McKellen does mention that no openly gay person has won the Oscar, but he was referring only to the categories he has been nominated in, which are Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.

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Following Smith’s comment during the Oscar ceremony, screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 2009 for Milk, tweeted a video of his acceptance speech to Smith.

This, and many other tweets commenting on Smith’s gaffe, caused the 23-year-old singer to sign off of Twitter for the foreseeable future:

"I’m logging off for a while. Some Martinis shaken not stirred are definitely in order.-Sam Smith, 1 March 2016 11:52 am on Twitter"

Given the benign nature of Smith’s comment, I doubt Smith will be gone for long. A gaffe like this will likely blow over quickly. Unchecked fact or not, Smith still deserves congratulations for his Oscar win.

Next: Sam Smith Bond Theme Wins Oscar Gold

Smith shared his Oscar win for Spectre with co-writer James Napier.

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