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Is Sam Smith Really the Only Openly Gay Oscar Winner?

Viewers of the 88th Academy Awards called the singer Sam Smith’s performance Sunday night in two words: off pitch.

Sam Smith and Jimmy Napes, right, accepted the Academy Award for best original song, “Writing’s on the Wall,” for the 2015 James Bond thriller “Spectre” on Sunday.  
(Patrick T. Fallon for The New York Times)

Even he was not too pleased by his rendition of the Oscar-winning James Bond song “Writing’s on the Wall” at the ceremony, held at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles and broadcast to millions worldwide on ABC. He told the BBC, “It was the worst moment of my life.”

“I hated every moment of it,” said the British singer, 23, who first made a splash by winning the Grammy Award for best new artist in 2014 and won record of the year at the 2015 Grammys for “Stay With Me.”

Mr. Smith’s awkward night did not end with his wobbly singing Sunday. In accepting the Academy Award for best original song for the 2015 Bond thriller, “Spectre,” he stood onstage with the songwriter Jimmy Napes and said: “I read an article a few months ago, by Sir Ian McKellen, and he said no openly gay man had ever won an Oscar, and if this is the case — and even if it isn’t the case — I want to dedicate this to the L.G.B.T. community all around the world.”

His comments drew swift reaction online, because it seemed he had not only misread Mr. McKellen’s comments, but he was also flat-out wrong.

In January, the English actor, speaking of the best actor category, told The Guardian: “No openly gay man has ever won the Oscar; I wonder if that is prejudice or chance.”

The list of gay Oscar winners in general is not short, however, whether they were out at the time or not. For instance, Mr. Smith either forgot or was ignorant of two fellow British winners: Sir John Gielgud won best actor in a supporting role in 1981 for his performance in “Arthur”; and Elton John got an Oscar with Tim Rice for 1994’s best original song, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” from “The Lion King.”

The director John Schlesinger, who died in 2003, won in 1970 for “Midnight Cowboy”; the veteran actor Joel Grey, who came out last year, was awarded best supporting actor for “Cabaret” in 1973; Bill Condon won best screenwriting honors in 1999 for “Gods and Monsters”; Alan Ball, the openly gay creator of television’s “True Blood,” took home the golden statuette in 2000 for writing “American Beauty”; the gay Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar won for writing “Talk to Her,” from 2002; and Scott Rudin won in 2008 for producing “No Country for Old Men” with the Coen brothers.

The music category also includes some big names, like Stephen Sondheim, who took home an Oscar for best song, “Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man),” from “Dick Tracy,” (1990); and Melissa Etheridge, who won for best song in 2007, after writing “I Need to Wake Up” for the Al Gore documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.”

Then there is Dustin Lance Black, who received the Academy Award in 2009 for best original screenplay for “Milk.”

Mr. Smith’s flub Sunday was not taken lightly by Mr. Black, who got personal on Twitter. Not only did he remind him he had won best original screenplay, he also told him to stop, you know, contacting his fiancé. Mr. Black, an activist in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, is engaged to the British diver Tom Daley, 21.

“Hey @SamSmithWorld, if you have no idea who I am, it may be time to stop texting my fiancé...” he posted, adding: “Here’s a start:” and linked to a video of his acceptance speech at the 2009 Academy Awards.



Later, in the media room, when Mr. Smith was informed of a previous gay winner for best original song, he laughingly unleashed a couple of expletives and asked, “Who’s the other person?”

That would be the playwright and lyricist Howard Ashman, who won Academy Awards for “Under the Sea” (from “The Little Mermaid,” 1989) and for “Beauty and the Beast,” from the 1991 film of the same name, in collaboration with Alan Menken.

Of Mr. Ashman, Mr. Smith said: “I should know him. We should date.”

Mr. Ashman died at age 40 of AIDS complications in 1991.

The singer, though short on the facts, was clearly trying to spread a message of pride and empowerment Sunday night: “I stand here tonight as a proud gay man, and I hope we can all stand together as equals one day,” he said.

The pushback online led him to defend his error Monday on Twitter:



He also issued a mea culpa, and an olive branch of sorts, to Mr. Black:



And his inspiration for the false note in history, Mr. McKellen, clarified his past statement while focusing on the positive in a Twitter message.


Source : The New York Times
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