Did Stacey Dash Even Understand Her Awkward Oscars Moment?
The actress seems unaware that host Chris Rock was trolling her... hard.
Chris Rock served up a lot of hilarious moments as host of the 2016 Oscars Sunday night. However, there were some moments that fell flat, such as when Chris introduced Stacey Dash as the new Director of the Oscars' minority outreach program. Stacey laughed as she walked onto the stage, which was followed by her saying, "I cannot wait to help my people out. Happy Black History Month."
A few claps were heard as Stacey walked off the stage. The camera then panned to The Weeknd, who had a very confused look on his face, which seemed to reflect how many people in the audience and at home felt about the situation.
Image: Giphy
You too may have been wondering who exactly Stacey is, and why that bit was supposed to be funny to begin with. Well, Stacey, an actress most famous for her role in the 1995 classic teen comedy Clueless, has grabbed headlines in recent years for her controversial opinions about the African American community, including speaking out against the #OscarsSoWhite movement and saying Black History Month shouldn't exist during an appearance on Fox & Friends last month.
Knowing that bit of context, it should seem that it would be ironic for Stacey to be named the Director of the Oscars' minority outreach program since her views haven't exactly been supportive of minorities (quite the opposite, actually), including the fact that she doesn't believe in Black History Month, and therein lies the joke.
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Stacey understood the punch line herself. She tried to clear up her Oscars appearance for the confused masses on her blog on Patheos Sunday and had a totally different interpretation of her appearance. "When they added ME to increase the diversity, I’m sure many black people rolled their eyes. I’m not 'black enough,' they say," Stacey wrote in her blog post. "But guess what? I’ve heard that all my life. I would rather be a free thinking, black than a cookie cutter black who thinks – and votes – just like all my friends."
It would appear that Stacey believes that with his joke, Chris was poking fun at her naysayers, not herself. In fact, Stacey seemed to take what was supposed to be a funny moment very seriously, saying that it helped bring the Oscars one step closer to not only achieving racial diversity but also ideological diversity. "Yes, I’m the actress from the South Bronx who has always dreamed of winning an Oscar. But God has a great sense of humor and this is my first encounter with one of my dreams of destiny," she wrote. "Bringing diversity to Hollywood… not merely because of color, but politics as well. (After all, different colors of skin is an easy kind of diversity. Ideological diversity is much harder, because it forces everyone to come face to face with actual beliefs. Hollywood needs BOTH.)"
We're just going to let Chrissy Teigen's reaction to the Oscars moment continue to speak for us.
