Was Emma Stone’s Golden Globes Apology To Sandra Oh Loud Enough?

Performers who 'whitewash' roles were being called out, so Emma piped up...

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by Sophie Wilkinson |
Updated on

Emma Stone didn’t win big at the 2019 76th Golden Globes, but she did make a big apology for a previous role she took on.

Though it would have been very fun to see how Emma and The Favourite co-star Rachel Weisz, who feud throughout the film, responded IRL to one of them being quite literally favoured over the other, neither went home with the best supporting actress in a musical or comedy award they were both nominated for, but their co-star Olivia Colman, who did win the award of best leading actress in a musical or comedy, referred to them very affectionately as ‘ma bitches’.

That_The Favourite_, which shows three women having the sort of bawdy, outlandish fun that has previously been the preserve of men in Hollywood, has done so well at all is testament to times changing when it comes to Hollywood diversity. And Emma took it one step further, by apologising, very loudly, when Sandra Oh - quite rightly - made a joke about her taking on an Asian role.

In a linking skit, presenter Oh, who also won the Golden Globe for best leading actress in a TV drama, becoming the first Asian woman in 40 years to bring home that award, made a joke about white people taking Asian people’s roles.

Crazy Rich Asians is nominated tonight for best picture — musical or comedy. It is the first studio film with an Asian American lead since Ghost in the Shell and Aloha’

The joke being that, Ghost in the Shell starred Scarlett Johansson as a Japanese woman, and Michael Pitt as a Japanese man, and Aloha saw Emma Stone playing the role of a part-Chinese, part-Hawaiian woman.

As the cheers went up, a woman - who sounds a LOT like Emma Stone - shouted out, emphatically ‘I’m sorry!’ very loudly

The camera didn’t cut to her, which perhaps adds to the notion that this apology was unplanned, and that Emma really, really means it.

In 2015, Emma addressed the controversy of a woman like her playing a woman called Allison Ng, saying: ‘I’ve become the butt of many jokes,’ adding, ’I’ve learned on a macro level about the insane history of whitewashing in Hollywood and how prevalent the problem truly is. It’s ignited a conversation that’s very important.'

Which continues to this day...

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