She didn't even pretend to applaud
Casey Affleck won Best Actor at last night’s Oscars for his role in Manchester by the Sea, and to say people had mixed feelings about it would be a massive understatement.
“Fucking creep wins Oscar” was an article Jezebel ran in the aftermath of his speech, and Twitter erupted with some equally savage jokes.
To explain: Affleck has been accused of some pretty awful things involving women, including grabbing a producer when she refused to share a hotel room with him and sending her abusive text messages. White alleges Affleck called women “cows”, asked “Isn’t it about time you get pregnant?” when he found out his producer’s age, and ordered a crew member on I’m Still Here to remove his pants and show the producer his penis. His lawsuits were settled out of court.
The only statement Affleck has made on the harassment allegations is: “It was settled to the satisfaction of all. I was hurt and upset — I am sure all were — but I am over it. It was an unfortunate situation — mostly for the innocent bystanders of the families of those involved.” But that hasn’t stopped people talking about it.
It was Brie Larson though, tasked with presenting him with the award, that gave us the most entertainment in her lowkey “why has this happened expression”. Here it’s been immortalised in some iconic gifs.
That expression says “the academy might have decided this creep wins but I’m sure as hell not clapping for it”. That expression says “Casey Affleck? For Best Actor? Groundbreaking”. It says “take your trash statue and stay as far away from me as possible”. If everyone didn’t already love Brie Larson (deservedly) for her amazing performance in Room, they do all the more now.
Also, Chrissy Teigen pointedly “slept” through Affleck’s entire speech.