Entertainment

Stacey Dash Showed Up At The Oscars

by Michelle McGahan

Here's a sentence I definitely didn't think I'd be writing this Oscars Sunday: Stacey Dash showed up at the 2016 Oscars and seemingly mocked her own statements about black culture. After being introduced as the "Director of the Minority Outreach Program" by host Chris Rock, Dash walked out on stage to gasps in the audience and declared, enormous smile on her face, "I cannot wait to help my people out. Happy Black History Month!" Following her surprise appearance, Stacey Dash wrote a blog post addressing her Oscars appearance here.

Dash, who has been a controversial figure in the media as of late — arguing to get rid of Black History Month, Black Entertainment Television, and anything else that the actor feels segregates and separates races — immediately prompted a stunned reaction from celebs in the audience as well as the audience at home. (We only need to look at facial expression guru Chrissy Teigen, who, of course, captured what just about everyone was thinking when the Clueless star took the stage.)

The Fox correspondent previously made her thoughts on the Oscars backlash well-known, telling Fox & Friends in January that the boycott is "ludicrous" and that "if we don't want segregation, we need to get rid of channels like BET and the BET Awards and the NAACP Image Awards, where you're only awarded it if you're black."

"There shouldn't be a black history month," Dash added at the time. "We're Americans. Period."

Needless to say, Dash's inclusion in the 2016 Oscars — which has focused so heavily on the prominent lack of diversity and representation at the award show — was a shocking one. But, it's one that gave Rock the opportunity to call out Dash for her comments, and allowed us all to acknowledge that Dash is a controversial figure — one whose statements about black culture should be called out and are not representative of most people's views.

And, last but not least, let's let the celeb reactions take center stage here:

Because yes, they pretty much say it all.