WATCH: Best Actress Michelle Yeoh Takes Shot at CNN’s Don Lemon in Oscars Acceptance Speech
Best Actress winner Michelle Yeoh, star of the multi-award winning Best Picture Everything Everywhere All At Once, clapped back at now-infamous remarks made by CNN’s Don Lemon during her acceptance speech.
Lemon last month angered his colleagues and kicked off a deluge of criticism on Twitter that ended in his having to issue an apology, when in an attempted political dunk he casually dismissed women of a certain age as being “past their prime” on CNN This Morning.
“She says people, you know, politicians are suddenly not in their prime. Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime. Sorry, When a woman is in their prime in 20s and 30s and maybe 40s…” Lemon said in reference to Haley’s call for a mental fitness test for presidential candidates. After receiving pushback from his email cohosts, he added:
Don’t shoot the messenger, I’m just saying what the facts are. Google it. Everybody at home, when is a woman in her prime? It says 20s, 30s and 40s. I’m just saying Nikki Haley should careful about saying that politics are not in their prime, and they need to be in their prime when they serve. She would not be in her prime according to Google or whatever it is.
The comments went viral and earned condemnation and pushback from across the political and media spectrum — and evidently caught Yeoh’s attention as well.
The Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Star Trek: Discovery star won Best Actress for her role as Evelyn Wang in Everything Everywhere All At Once, the winningest film of the night, which also took the top prize as Best Picture.
During her speech, Yeoh said, “for all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities.”
“This is proof that dreams, dream big, and dreams do come true,” she said. “And ladies, don’t ever let anyone tell you you are ever past your prime. Never give up!”
She didn’t have to say what that was in reference to. Everybody knows.
Watch the clip above, via The Oscars on ABC.
