“Hair Love” takes home the Oscar Award for Best Animated Short Film.
During his speech, Director Matthew A Cherry dedicated the Oscar to Kobe Bryant, while also addressing the Crown Act, law that makes it illegal to discriminate against Blacks because of hair.
He stated:
“I just wanna say Hair Love was done because we wanted to see more representation and animation.We wanted to normalize Black hair.
He continued:
There is a very important issue that’s out there; it’s The Crown Act. If we can help to get this passed in all 50 states, it’ll help stories like DeAndre Arnold, who’s our special guest tonight.
He also added:
This award is dedicated to Kobe Bryant. May we all have a second act as great as his was.
As previously reported, Cherry invited Texas teen, DeAndre Arnold, who recently withdrew from his high school, due to being told that he would have to cut his locs in order to participate in high school graduation.
“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.” This award made him the second athlete to win an Academy Award, after the late great Kobe Bryant.
