NewsBite

Oscars 2021: Andra Day slams the Academy during unscripted moment

Best Actress nominee Andra Day didn’t hold back during an unscripted moment, slamming the Academy for a historic snub.

Bella Fowler
2 min read
April 26, 2021 - 3:30PM
Oscars 2021: Best looks on the red carpet at the Academy Awards

In a delightfully feisty uncensored moment, Andra Day declared justice for Prince after he missed out on a Best Song nomination for his classic Purple Rain.

Day was the first to be picked on during an unscripted segment which saw comedian Lil Rel Howery enter the audience to quiz the stars on their Oscars trivia.

Playing a few lines of Purple Rain, he asked the singer and star of the United States vs. Billie Holiday to answer whether the song won an Oscar, was nominated, or wasn’t nominated at all.

“It probably wasn’t nominated and that’s some bulls**t,” she shot back.

RELATED: Read our live coverage of the awards ceremony here

And she was right – kind of.

“The score won the award but none of the songs from the score got nominated,” Howery told her. The 1984 film of the same name Purple Rain won both Best Original Musical and Best Original Score, but the song itself did not get a nod. Stevie Wonder’s I Just Called to Say I Love You, written for The Woman in Red, won instead.

“That sounds about right,” Day, who was nominated for Best Actress alongside Viola Davis, Vanessa Kirby, Carey Mulligan and winner Frances McDormand, responded.

“I don’t know how much that’s going to cost you, ABC,” he said, referring to Day’s surprise curse word and the Oscars’ US broadcaster. “Let me find somebody else to play this game with!”

RELATED: See the best and worst dressed stars at the Oscars

US actress and singer Andra Day was nominated for her portrayed Billie Holiday. Picture: POOL / AFP.
US actress and singer Andra Day was nominated for her portrayed Billie Holiday. Picture: POOL / AFP.

Moving on to Best Supporting Actor winner Daniel Kaluuya, who answered his Donna Summer song question incorrectly, he then landed at Glenn Close — who delivered arguably the greatest moment of the night.

Doubting her ability to identify R&B track Da Butt by Experience Unlimited for the 1998 comedy School Daze, Howery was about to move on before Close came through with the knowledge.

“Wait a second. That’s Da Butt. It was a classic song by the great Washington DC go-go band EU. So, yeah, shout outs to Sugar Bear and the Backyard Band and the whole DMV.”

She continued to a gobsmacked Howery: “So, wait, I remember this. So Spike Lee had it written for his brilliant movie School Daze and my friends at the Oscars missed it and it wasn’t nominated so it couldn’t have won which I think is an F-ing tragedy,” she said in what could have been a veiled swipe at the Academy given she’s been nominated eight times without a win.

Impressed, Howery responded: “Um, I wasn’t expecting that at all, that you knew Da Butt. It’s dope that you did … but do you know the dance, though? Do you know how to do Da Butt? Let me see you do it,” he asked, prompting the star to get out of her seat and wiggle her butt at the camera.

Iconic.

“Oh, my god! She did the whole butt at the Oscars! This is the blackest the Oscars of all time. Glenn Close just did Da Butt,” Howery joked.

The moment understandably had Twitter ablaze.


She may not have won for the Best Supporting Actress category, but she certainly won the room.

More related stories

Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/awards/oscars/oscars-2021-andra-day-slams-the-academy-during-unscripted-moment/news-story/f72a448df5b733b0d833677be197c569