One Battle After Another star Teyana Taylor has hit out at those criticising her gleeful reaction to losing at the Oscars.
Taylor, 35, was nominated in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category, and lost to Amy Madigan, who won for her role as the villainous Aunt Gladys in horror film Weapons.
When Madigan, 75, was announced as the winner by last year’s Supporting Actress victor, Emilia Pérez star Zoe Saldaña, Taylor could be seen jumping to her feet and ecstatically applauding her fellow nominee.
Taylor’s response received criticism online, with many calling her enthusiastic celebration of somebody else’s victory “embarrassing” and “off”. But the actor has brushed off the criticism, writing on X/Twitter: “The world holds so much misery that miserable hearts forget the face of happiness.”
She continued: “They grow comfortable being sore losers, so when they see real sportsmanship it unsettles them! Like holy water touching a demon.”
Taylor added that “clapping for someone else’s victory requires something many people never learned…how to win with grace & pure joy, and how to lose with grace, chin up & dignity”.
Taylor started awards season as a hot favourite to win an Oscar for her role as an anarchist revolutionary Perfidia Beverly Hills in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Best Picture-winning One Battle After Another. She won a Golden Globe in January and lost the Bafta to Sinners star Wunmi Mosaku the following month.
Madigan picked up a key win at the Critics’ Choice Awards, a revelation that also prompted an excited response from Taylor at the time; the pair crew close to each other throughout the awards trail.
After the Oscars ceremony, held in Los Angeles on Sunday (15 March), Taylor was videoed calling out a member of security backstage after he allegedly “put [his] hands” on and “shoved” her.
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In footage shared on social media, Taylor could be seen telling a man, whose back is turned and can’t be seen: “You’re a man putting your hands on a female. That’s very rude. You’re very rude.”
Towards the end of the clip, she reiterated: “Do not touch me, do not shove me, do not push me.”
Taylor later told TMZ: “It’s all good. Everybody’s having a good time, security was just doing a lot. There’s always that one. At the end of the day, I just don’t tolerate disrespect, especially when it’s unwarranted and it’s unprovoked.”
In an email statement to Entertainment Weekly, Security Industry Specialists, Inc said: “There was a brief interaction involving Ms. Taylor and a member of our security team during the show last evening. Our security personnel were working to manage a crowded area and ensure the safety of all guests.
“During that interaction, there was incidental contact and we regret that the situation escalated. This is not the standard of professionalism we expect from our team, and we have addressed the matter internally to help ensure situations like this do not happen again.”
The Academy also responded to the incident, thanking Taylor “for showing remarkable grace”.
The Independent has contacted Taylor for comment.
