During last night's Academy Awards, Sam Smith sang his drowsy, Oscar-nominated James Bond theme "Writing's On The Wall." The performance was... not good. Smith was all over the place, singing in a way higher pitch than usual and delivering one of the more boring moments in an endless ceremony. But give Smith credit for at least knowing that he sucked. As SPIN points out, Smith spoke to the BBC at an afterparty and described his performance thus: "It was the worst moment of my life. Singing was horrible. I hated every minute." Me too, buddy!
Smith, along with co-writer Jimmy Napes, would go on to win the Best Original Song Oscar later in the night. During his acceptance speech, Smith guessed that he might be the first openly gay man to win an Oscar. Well, he's not. Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black won one in 2009, and he jumped on Twitter to expertly tell Smith to fuck off:
Hey @SamSmithWorld, if you have no idea who I am, it may be time to stop texting my fiancé. Here's a start: https://t.co/8hGTRtIaMK
— Dustin Lance Black (@DLanceBlack) February 29, 2016
Dustin Lance Black with the unexpected ether!
You can add Sir John Gielgud, Elton John, and Howard Ashman to the list of openly gay winners as well. The New York Times reports:
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 in 1989 for “Under the Sea” (from “The Little Mermaid”) and in 1991 for “Beauty and the Beast,” from the film of the same name, in collaboration with Alan Menken.
Of Mr. Ashman, Mr. Smith said: “I should know him. We should date.”
Alas, Mr. Ashman died at age 40 of complications from AIDS in 1991.
