Someone seems to have informed Academy president Janet Yang that she probably shouldn’t be posting a lengthy endorsement of Everything Everywhere All at Once star Michelle Yeoh just as Oscar voting was starting this weekend. Influential plugs like that are considered a no-no for Academy leaders, especially its president, and especially during the height of a heated Oscar campaign. Yang lauded her “four decades of love” for Yeoh, adding “it’s sobering why it took so long” for the awards recognition; she also posted a video of a Netflix campaign event for Pinocchio filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, but at least that was at an Academy venue.
A couple Academy members reached out to me to voice frustration about Yang’s quasi-endorsements (none connected to Cate Blanchett or any Yeoh rival), and by this morning, when I asked the Academy about it, Yang had deleted the posts. The Academy isn’t commenting.
