Singer Sam Smith picked up an Oscar for Best Original Song last night for his crappy James Bond theme, “Writing’s On The Wall” from Spectre, but in his speech, he claimed that he was the first gay man to win an Academy Award:
“I read an article a few months ago by Sir Ian McKellen, and he said that no openly gay man had ever won an Oscar, and if this is the case, even if it isn’t the case, I want to dedicate this to the LGBT community all around the world.”
Well that’s great, except, what McKellen actually said was that no gay man has ever won the award for Best Actor. When Smith was informed of his mistake, he tried to still make his win seem historically relevant:
“I had something in my head. I think I’m the secondly openly gay person to win it.”
Well, not, that’s not true either. In fact, several gays and lesbians have won Oscars (though some were not out at the time). Two of those winners won the exact same Academy Award as Smith-Elton John for The Lion King’s “Can You Feel the Love Tonight“ and Howard Ashman for the titular “Beauty and the Beast,” as well as for “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid. After reporters told Smith that even his claim for second place wasn’t correct, mentioning openly gay songwriter Ashman, Smith stated:
“I should know him. We should date.”
Except that ASHMAN DIED IN 1991 FROM COMPLICATIONS FROM AIDS! Will someone please just tell this hump to shut the hell up?! Smith has only really had two hits so far, “Stay With Me,” for which he was successfully sued for ripping off Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down,” and now “Writing’s On the Wall.” We don’t know which is worse, being a thief or being an arrogant dunderhead.