Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor says he is ‘getting nightmares’ about Oscar 2023; is worried about Cate Blanchett not winning

Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor tweeted, “I’m getting nightmares about Cate Blanchett losing to Michelle Yeoh at the Oscar’s… how can a PR campaign centred around race put one of the best performances of all time in the shadows? Any opinions guys.” The actor was referring to Cate Blanchett’s performance in Tár and Michelle Yeoh’s performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once, both of which are considered frontrunners in the best actress category. After Michelle triumphed at the recently concluded Screen Actors Guild Awards, many are predicting her to win over Cate on March 12. Michelle’s win would also make her the first Asian actor to have won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role category.

The tweet by the actor didn’t sit well with a section of Twitter users, who then went ahead and tweeted against him. Meanwhile, Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor also responded to some of them on the microblogging site. A person said, “Its okay to love an actor’s performance over another, but to downplay another actor’s performance as a PR campaign is so disingenuous. Like you really have to be biased to think michelle yeoh’s performance isn’t great, if not one of the greatest of all times.” To this tweet, Harsh wrote back, “She’s clearly trying to use it and do everything she can to edge forward in the race and not let it be only about the merit of the performance…”

One user wrote, “I eat, sleep and breathe Bollywood. Half of my pop culture knowledge is defined by it. Focus on the colourism/racism of your industry instead of downplaying a veteran asian actress’ achievements. It’s not cute. And I bet you your dad and sister won’t like it either.” To this, Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor replied,”If my opinion doesn’t matter why are you responding to my tweet ? Yeoh on her instagram posted an article about how she should win because of diversity when cate has publicly been so supportive of her… really a low blow I felt . She later deleted it after the backlash.”

The actor was referring to the recent backlash which prompted Michelle Yeoh to delete her Instagram post in which she had shared screenshots of a Vogue article highlighting the systemic racism of Hollywood, and one which also targeted Cate Blanchett’s performance. Michelle deleted the post shortly after it had gathered a lot of criticism online with some slamming her for targeting the other nominee Cate Blanchett in her post. It might also have violated one of the rules of the Academy. As stated in no. 11, “References to Other Nominees,” Part B of the rule of The Academy reads, “Any tactic that singles out ‘the competition’ by name or titles is expressly forbidden.”