Janelle Monáe, Cate Blanchett, and Brendan Fraser sweep the Critics Choice Awards
Everything Everywhere All at Once continued it's awards domination.
At the Critics Choice Awards, LGBTQ stars and actors portraying LGBTQ characters and stories won big.
The 28th Critics Choice Awards took place at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in LA on Sunday night (15 January).
The night’s special #SeeHer award – given to women who advocate for gender equality, portray characters with authenticity, defy stereotypes and push boundaries – went to Janelle Monáe.
Janelle began her speech by clarifying that her pronouns are: “she/her, they/them and free-ass m****rf****r.”
“I try to make an effort in my work to highlight the ones who have been pushed to the margins of society, who’ve been outcast or relegated to ‘the other,’” they also added.
“It’s personal because I am non-binary, I am queer, and my identity influences my decisions and my work.”
Everything Everywhere All at Once had an impressive night, racking up several major awards.
As well as the acclaimed Best Picture award, the absurdist comedy’s directors (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) won both Best Director and Best Screenplay.
Additionally, Ke Huy Quan, who plays the family’s father and husband, won Supporting Actor, furthering the film’s critical acclaim.
Ke’s co-star Stephanie Hsu was also nominated for her supporting role as Joy, a young woman who wants to introduce her girlfriend to the family.
Brendan Fraser won Best Actor for The Whale and gave an emotional acceptance speech.
The Whale, a portrait of an obese gay man near death, has generated buzz for Brendan’s Oscar campaign.
Elsewhere, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery won Best Acting Ensemble. Rian Johnson’s murder-mystery film is led by Daniel Craig who plays gay detective Benoit Blanc.
The Bond actor cemented his character’s queerness, previously saying: “You are supposed to reflect life. And that [gay] relationship reflects people in my life.”
“It’s normal,” he also added. “But we don’t make a song and dance out of it. It just feels right.”
Furthermore, Tár’s Cate Blanchett won Best Actress for her portrayal of a lesbian conductor whose career begins to topple with misconduct allegations.
The lesbian icon recently told Attitude Tár “couldn’t have been made and viewed in a mainstream audience 20 years ago.”
You can view Attitude’s interview with Cate Blanchett on Tár below.
Elsewhere Zendaya took home the award for Best Actress in a Drama Series for Euphoria. The White Lotus’ Jennifer Coolidge won Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Tanya McQuaid.
In yet another hilarious but insightful, and inspirational speech, Jennifer used her recent successes to prove “it’s not over till it’s over. It’s not over till you’re dead.”