ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Guneet Monga has Oscars Speech Cut Off
An incident involving Guneet Monga at the Oscars has circulated on social media.
The moment happened when the producer and Kartiki Gonsalves won an Oscar for ‘Best Documentary Short Film’ for The Elephant Whisperers.
TikTok user 7EVN pointed out that Kartiki took 43 seconds to deliver her speech, saying:
“I stand here today to speak for the sacred bond between us and our natural world, for the respect of indigenous communities, and empathy towards other living beings we share space with and finally, for coexistence.
“Thank you to the Academy for recognising our film, highlighting indigenous people and animals.”
But as Guneet was about to speak, the music started playing and she was unceremoniously prevented from delivering her speech.
She was left standing awkwardly in front of the microphone.
Guneet instead triumphantly lifted up her award while the crowd applauded. She then left the stage with Kartiki.
The TikToker then pointed out that the following award winners, Matthew Freud and Charlie Mackesy, did not experience a similar cutoff.
He asked: “What’s the difference? This was back-to-back. Why was the Indian woman silenced while the white British man gets to say what he wants to say?
“Does her accent make you feel uncomfortable? Do you assume people do not want to hear what she has to say?”
@iam7evn Does anyone else notice moments like this at the #oscars ??????????? #theelephantwhisperers #ouch #awkaward #letherspeak #weareallequal #humanlivesmatter
Social media users were shocked by the incident, which almost went unnoticed.
One said: “The documentary about Navalny also got tons of time to accept and his wife got to speak so… yes, it’s very wrong that they cut off this Indian woman’s acceptance speech. Like foul.”
Another wrote: “This genuinely p****d me off. It’s more so just sad than anything else.
“She was standing there with her phone out when the music played over her and her speech was so beautiful.”
Another comment read: “This angers me in ways I can’t explain.”
One person said: “She was all prepared with her speech on her phone too.”
Others said the incident reeked of racism.
“Academy being racist. What else is new?”
Another said: “India finally getting more recognition for their work in the film industry and then they pull this.”
Guneet Monga later gave her speech, however, it was to the press.
Sharing what she would have said on stage, Guneet said:
“Tonight is historic! This is the first Oscar for any Indian production and two women here won this…
“I just want to say to everyone watching, the future is audacious and the future is us and the future is here.”
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