DeAndre Arnold, teen who was reportedly told he couldn’t graduate due to dreadlocks, and his mother Sandy Arnold, have both been officially invited to attend the Oscars, by Matthew A. Cherry, the director of the film “Hair Love.”
According to CNN, the two were invited by director Matthew, whose film “Hair Love” is one of the front-runners for the Best Animated Short Oscar.
In an interview with CNN, Matthew stated, “It’s truly an honor to have the platform to be able to invite DeAndre and his family as our guest to the Oscars next Sunday.”
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He continued, “DeAndre is such a good kid, and he shouldn’t be punished for his hair. And we love that he didn’t bend to the pressure to cut it.”
The director added, “We think his hair is beautiful and this is the least we could do to support him and show him love. Looking forward to meeting him.”
The hair controversy started because the former Barber Hills High School student was told he had to cut his dreadlocks in order to participate in his school’s graduation.
This past Wednesday (Jan 29), DeAndre was also surprised with a $20K scholarship by Ellen Degeneres. On the show he stated, “Every day I would go to school, I would be in dress code. But the thing with them [dreads] is, if it was let down, I would be out of dress code.”
He also added, “There’s plenty of girls with long hair at any school. Like, if girls can have long hair, why can’t I have long hair?”
“Hair Love” is about a Black father who is attempting to do his daughter’s hair for the first time. Matthew, who is a former NFL player first started a kickstarter for the film back in 2017.
He has also had his hand in the television shows “Black-ish” and “The Last O.G.”
The Oscars air Feb 5th @ 8PM EST.
