Rami Malek won the Best Actor Oscar for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’

72nd EE British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) - Press Room

Well, I thought we would end up with a surprise or shock in the Best Actor category. Not so much. Rami Malek won the Best Actor Oscar for Bohemian Rhapsody, in what was a crowd-pleasing financial success and a critical nothingburger. There was a low-key campaign online in the last weeks of the Oscar voting period to try to get Oscar voters to NOT vote for Rami. And yes, it was mostly about Bryan Singer, an accused serial rapist and accused pedophile, but it was also about…Rami’s Oscar campaign worked too well, and when he finally got substantive questions about Singer’s involvement, he prattled on about Freddie Mercury’s ghost. It left me cold.

Rami’s speech thanked everyone from the studio, thanked Queen, thanked his family. He thanked “my crew” and “my cast,” which… is sort of a choice to refer to those people that way. Rami made his speech about himself, as a first-generation Egyptian-American, the child of immigrants. He told his girlfriend Lucy Boynton “you have captured my heart.” He did not thank Bryan Singer by name or by oblique reference. Which… I mean, again, Singer’s already celebrating this. Even though Rami had a big hand in getting Singer fired, Singer is still celebrating.

Basically, #OscarsStillProblematic. From the Bohemian Rhapsody wins to Green Book winning the Screenplay Oscar… it’s not great.

JOHN F KENNEDY JR ARCHIVE IMAGES

Photos courtesy of WENN, INDB.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

47 Responses to “Rami Malek won the Best Actor Oscar for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. minx says:

    OMG Olivia Colman beat Glenn Close! Wow.
    Anyway congrats to Rami.

  2. broodytrudy says:

    I swear i could SEE the cogs in his head saying, “don’t thank Bryan Singer, don’t thank Bryan Singer…” it was stressful af to watch.

  3. Uppenyrcraut says:

    I wanted Christian Bale to win. VICE was awesome.

    • Kebbie says:

      I wanted to love Vice, but I hated it. Christian Bale though was so good. He is hands down one of the best actors of his generation.

    • Bella Bella says:

      I wanted Ethan Hawke to win for First Reformed and he wasn’t even nominated!! Seriously, though, Ethan Hawke is on a tear with his acting lately. Everything he’s been in for the last 6 years has been incredible, and First Reformed is no different. Plus it was directed by Paul Schrader of Taxi Driver fame. It is a strange film that I am dying to talk about with someone. Ethan is just a column of pain, his eyes shining with hurt through the whole thing. Awesome performance.

      • Karen McCabe says:

        I LOVED First Reformed. I wish it had gotten more attention. He was so,so great in it.

      • maria s says:

        IKR. I’m glad Ethan Hawke won the Independent Spirit award for First Reformed. I was thrilled for him.

      • Newyorking says:

        Tfs. I love Ethan Hawke, he does such understated wonderful movies. I wish he got talked about more.

    • Paula says:

      Yeah but no christian has been acussed of domestic violence in the past

    • paranormalgirl says:

      I wanted Willam Defoe. He was so utterly amazing.

  4. Eve says:

    Spike Lee didn’t win Best Director. Shame.

  5. Thisbitch says:

    Rami Malek won? Ridiculous.

  6. Tai says:

    When Rami said he was searching for himself I though he was going to come out as gay right there on the stage! His little add on to Lucy seemed very fake.

    • Doodle says:

      I was holding my breath! Was it a teaser?

    • Bella Bella says:

      I think he almost forgot that he wasn’t gay to the world. The fake girlfriend was so ridiculous.

    • Ann says:

      He was macking on her pretty hard before he went up lol He got in a couple good kisses and then went in for one more before he went on stage. I didn’t know he was gay. I’ve never seen anything he’s acted in so news to me. If he is he picked a good beard, Lucy Boynton is very cute.

  7. Ali says:

    #oscarssowhite Viggo Viggo Viggo lol

  8. Veronica S. says:

    I’m going to hold my tongue on this one because this win makes me angry, but just know my bisexual ass is certain Mercury is rolling in his grave.

    • Jessica says:

      It makes me so furious when people call Freddy gay when he referred to himself on numerous occasions as bisexual. Bisexual is not the same as gay, people! Know your language and your fluid forms of sexuality and gender!

      • Babadook says:

        Yeah, what is the story with that? I always grew up hearing he was gay and then find out a little more about him, turns out he identified as bi and everyone is just like ‘nah you’re gay’. What’s the basis for this, other than bi-erasure? My bisexual ass isn’t pleased either.

      • Jag says:

        Agreed! I’m bisexual and y’all have said exactly what I’m thinking.

      • Veronica S. says:

        Because bisexuality, along with trans culture, undermines the gender dichotomy that’s the foundation of so much bullshit in our society. You would never believe that people who identify as bi or pan actually make up the bulk of the LGBT+ population given how much shit they put up with from both regular society and the LGBT+ community. Mercury deserved better. Bisexuals deserved better.

  9. Newyorking says:

    I am so so so thrilled that he won. I watched the movie on my way to and from another country in the flight, and fell in love with his performance. He truly was Freddie Mercury, and I watched the Live Aid show – the real one – and Rami did it complete justice. There was controversy with Bryan Singer, but Rami worked hard and truly deserved the win. I am so happy that he won.

  10. DiegoInSF says:

    “Rami made his speech about himself” I mean, I would too, who else was he supposed to make his win about?

    • Ali says:

      Eh, it was pretty obviously self centered even by Hollywood standards. He didn’t hide it well at all.

    • Laura says:

      Many actors use their time on stage to talk about a global issue or a concern so that more people can become self-aware. I’m surprised he didn’t even mention or honor victims of sexual harassment. At least he could’ve used his time up there to give support to all of the people Bryan Singer hurt.

  11. Kelly says:

    He totally deserved the win. He was awesome.

  12. Jayna says:

    I loved

  13. Bria says:

    The reasoning behind Rami never stating his opinion about Singer was obvious to me.whether he approved or disapproved, ppl would find a way to demonize him for being associated w/ Singer, it would not have mattered if he walked away from the film. His name being in the same sentence as Singers’ would not have swayed ppl from hating him. But, Rami’s performances in the past are a tried and true reason why this win was more than deserving. The public demonizing him bc of another’s mans actions will not take away his Oscar…it’s done..move on world.

  14. Alexandria says:

    Hmmm I think he’s a great actor and he was great in BR (although the movie was a tad weak). But I’m not sure if he should win the Oscar. Anyway it’s done.

    Didn’t think I’d see the day I’d see two Arabic names winning best actor and supporting actor. That was nice.

  15. Purplehazeforever says:

    He deserved the Oscar…the film was eh. But his performance? It was great. No one can take away from that.

  16. Case says:

    I’m glad I’m not the only one bothered when actors say “my cast” and “my crew.” No. Never okay, even if you’re the star. These people you worked ALONGSIDE do not belong to you or matter less than you.

    I found the part about him thanking his “girlfriend” to be so very silly and fake.

    • atlantic says:

      It’s such a turn-off to me when I hear the “my cast” in these speeches or read it in interviews. Or in daily work situations when colleagues say “my team” or “my developer,” etc. The word choice is indicative of how they see themselves and others.

  17. paranormalgirl says:

    So, some of us are taking this time to “out” Rami Malek, who has never even insinuated that he is gay and have decided, unilaterally, that his girlfriend is a beard? Damned shame. I thought we were better than that here.

    • Mila says:

      I know right? Where is that coming from? And even so, since when is that our business? Maybe he’s Bi, maybe he’s gay, maybe he’s straight…who cares? This is so not the time to debate it.

    • leskat says:

      Hells yes to THIS. He can be straight, gay, bi, literally whatever he wants and he doesn’t need anyone speculating aside from what he tells or shows us. He has a girlfriend? Great! Glad he’s found love with that person. There’s no need to speculate on a “bearding” situation, that’s gross and rude of other people to say so.

  18. Yes Doubtful says:

    He was fantastic, but the movie itself was “meh.”

  19. SJR says:

    No way should RM have won best actor Oscar. No way.
    He is a one trick pony, best save his money..it will be a short career for him.

    BR was a white washed version of Queen. I don’t even care that much that this version of Queen is so re-written. I DO care that for many people this low talent impression of FM will be taken as correct.
    BR is joke. Brian May got what he wanted, a feel-good family, G-rated Queen Lite.

    The extraordinary talent of Freddie Mercury still shines bright.
    Want to see a magnificent performance? YouTube Queen at LiveAid.
    The actual Freddie Mercury will amaze you.

    Sasha Baron Cohen would have had the depth/darkness to at minimum make it an interesting go.