DUSTIN Lance Black has double reason to be angry at Sam Smith — not only did
he steal his accolade of being the first openly gay man to accept an Oscar,
he’s also been texting his fiancé, Olympian Tom Daley.
The 41-year-old screenwriter/director/producer took deep offence at the Brit
singer collecting his prize for Best Original Song on Sunday and claiming he
was the “first openly gay” star to do so.
In his acceptance speech Sam, 23, said: “I read an article a few months
ago by Sir Ian McKellen and he said no openly gay man had won an Oscar.
“If this is the case, I want to dedicate this to the LGBT community
around the world.”
The singer and Jimmy Napes won an Academy Award for Writing’s on the Wall,
which featured as the Bond theme song for Spectre.
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But Sam and Sir Ian’s lack of fact-checking clearly infuriated Lance, who won
Best Original Screenplay in 2009 for Milk — and also brought some home
truths to the surface.
Choosing Twitter to vocalise his fury, Dustin, 41, posted a link to his 2009
Oscars acceptance speech and added: “Hey @SamSmithWorld, if you have no idea
who I am, it may be time to stop texting my fiancé. And here’s a start.”
Hey , if you have no idea who I am, it may be time to stop texting my fiancé. Here’s a start:
— Dustin Lance Black (@DLanceBlack)
Dustin, who is an active LGBT activist, attributed his thanks to the
community and the story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay American
politician.
He said: “It gave me the hope to live my life openly as who I am and that
maybe I could even fall in love, and one day get married.”
He continued in the 2009 speech: “To all of those gay and lesbian kids out
there who have been told they are less than their churches, or by the
government, or by their families that you are beautiful wonderful creatures
of value.”
Dustin and Olympic diver Tom, 21, became engaged when Tom proposed in October
2015 after two years together.
Sir Ian McKellen has since taken to Twitter to clarify his original comments
and to defend Sam Smith, who has received a barrage of criticism on social
media following his speech.
The actor tweeted: “I’d said no openly gay actor had received #Oscars –
that doesn’t detract from @samsmithworld achievement. Congratulations to him &
all others!”