Green Book's Best Picture win at Oscars 2019 sparks outrage on Twitter
As Green Book won the prestigious Oscar 2019 award for the Best Picture, there were several who were left utterly disappointed. In a surprise win, Peter Farrelly's biographical comedy-drama Green Book received the Best Picture honour at the 91st Academy Awards upstaging award season favourite Roma.
Green Book had a rough Oscar campaign, courtesy controversies involving Mortensen, Farrelly and the film's writer Nick Vallelonga, son of real-life Tony Vallelonga.
Mortensen, 60, had come under fire on social media for using the N-word during a panel discussion after the screening of the film, while Farrelly found himself embroiled in a controversy after an old report resurfaced where he admitted to flashing his privates as a joke.
Following the revelation, the director had issued an apology. Even Vallelonga faced backlash when his old tweets resurfaced in which he claimed to have witnessed thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrate the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, which turned out to be a fake news.
Now, several members of the social media have come to the forefront to express their disappointment.
“Don Shirley’s family hated #greenbook so much that Mahershala Ali had to personally apologize. Awarding this travesty of a movie with best picture is the most disappointing thing the academy could have done tonight. #oscars”, said a user.
While another Twitter user said, “My apologies to the family of Dr. Donald W. Shirley that your valid anger and offense with "Green Book" has gone ignored by the Academy. You deserve better than this”.
The film, featuring Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali, was based on the real-life story of Dr Don Shirley, an African-American jazz pianist and composer, who embarks on a cross-country tour that necessitates hiring a white driver Tony Vallelonga(Mortensen) to assist him as a bodyguard while he travels through America's racially-divided Southern states.
Green Book stopped "Roma", Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron's black-and-white love letter to his childhood, from making a clean sweep at the Oscars where it had already won Best Cinematography, Best Director and Best Foreign Language Film trophies.Other films nominated in the category were "Black Panther", "Vice", "BlacKkKlansman", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "The Favourite" and "A Star Is Born".
(With PTI Inputs)
Also Read: Oscars 2019 Highlights: Rami Malek, Olivia Colman win Best Actor, Actress; Alfonso Cuaron wins Best Director
