Kanye West’s infamous stage interruption when Taylor Swift was accepting her well-deserved award on the VMA stage won’t be wiped from showbiz history anytime soon. Because of that, if someone else does something similar it’s always compared to the iconic moment. However, when Elinor Burkett stormed the Oscars stage one year, she thought it was ‘ridiculous’ anyone thought she’d done the same thing.
There’s always something happening at the Oscars. Whether it was Will Smith’s slap which was heard around the world when he faced Chris Rock in 2022, or the man who took off all his clothes in the 1960s. Award show‘s biggest night seems to invite drama. If it was a relationship, we’d be blasting it as toxic on TikTok and describing the biggest red flags for others to avoid. Besides of all that, it’s still fun to watch when it comes back around each year. Fans get to see their favorite celebrity on the Red Carpet, and find out if their beloved movies and stars walk away with the iconic trophy. As we eagerly wait for the star-studded show, we took a look back at Elinor Burkett’s time at the Oscars. And more importantly, how if it happened today, it’d be viral within a flash.
Director barely gets a word in
Ok, let me set the scene.
It’s 2010, we’ve been rocking to Willow Smith’s Whip My Hair, cracking up over the guy who went viral for his reaction to a bedroom intruder in his house (look it up on YouTube, it’s worth it), and the Lost finale is airing this year. Prince William and Kate Middleton get engaged, Sex And The City 2 is in theaters and South Park has made a controversial episode. Alright, the last one can be any year. But it’s quite a time to be alive.
Music By Prudence was named as winner for Best Documentary Short at the glitzy event. Director Roger Ross Williams gets up on stage to accept the award show trophy and starts his acceptance speech.
“Oh my god, this is amazing,” Roger begins.
“Years ago when I got on an airplane and went to Zimbabwe I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I’d end up here. This is so exciting-“
However, where it gets interesting for anyone at home watching the Oscars, Elinor Burkett rocks up.
She rushes on stage after he’s begun and cuts him off.
Elinor begins: “Never let a woman talk, it’s a classic thing. The world in which, most of us are told and tell ourselves that ‘we can’t’. We honored the band behind this film, teaches us that we are wrong, against all odds, they did so we can.”
The woman who declares she didn’t ‘pull a Kanye’ on stage
Viewers were confused over what was happening and if she was really meant to be up there.
She later on disputed any comparisons to Kanye, because she was a producer on the movie.
Elinor Burkett defended her actions: “It’s ridiculous. I won an Oscar. Kanye West injected himself onto the stage where he didn’t belong. I don’t know why everyone is acting like I didn’t have the right to be there.
“My name was called, and I went up because because I won an Oscar. And that’s the only thing I kind of resent, is people acting like I didn’t get an Oscar.
“It’s really demeaning and denigrating to somebody who did all the work. The Producer’s Guild certified me as the producer. HBO certified me as the producer. There’s this assumption that [Roger] had more of a right to speak than I did. His Oscar is not bigger than my Oscar.“
Elinor Burkett said there was some beef before the Oscars
Elinor Burkett told reporters afterwards there was beef between director Roger Ross Williams and herself before the Oscars.
Apparently, Williams refused to work out which one of them would speak on stage if their name was called. She also claimed the weren’t speaking at the time over a creative conflict over the movie.
Elinor says she only stepped in on the stage because he didn’t thank the main subjects of the short film, Zimbabwean band Liyana.
Williams later went on Larry King to give his two cents.
He admitted during the creative process there are disputes, and said they weren’t friends anymore by the time Elinor Burkett and himself went to the Oscars.
He said the whole drama was “shocking” because they were there to celebrate “Prudence” which the movie was about.
Williams also denied his mom, who was 87-years-old at the time, blocked Burkett getting to the stage.
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