Michelle Yeoh Deleted An Instagram Post That Explained Why She Should Win Best Actress Over Cate Blanchett

At this year’s Oscars, the closest competition is not for Best Picture, but rather for Best Actress.

The loaded category includes some surprise nods like Ana de Armas for Blonde and Michelle Williams for The Fabelmans, but the frontrunners are undoubtedly Michelle Yeoh for Everything, Everywhere, All At Once and Cate Blanchett for Tár. 

Yeoh recently found herself in some hot water after sharing an Instagram post that may have violated Academy Awards campaigning rules, The Daily Beast reported. The actress shared a series of screenshots of a Vogue article that directly criticizes the Academy and discusses the stakes of this year’s best actress category. Under a picture of the article’s bold headline (‘It’s Been Over Two Years Since We’ve Had a Non-White Best Actress Winner. Will That Change in 2023?’), Yeoh wrote in the caption, “This is not just for me, this is for every little girl that looks like me… We want to be seen. We want to be heard.”

In the article, writer Radhika Seth dives into how lead performances from non-white actresses are often sidelined to the Best Supporting Actress category, and how the voting Academy’s own personal biases impact who wins these coveted awards. As the article points out, in the Academy’s almost 100-year history, Halle Berry is the only non-white woman to ever win best actress.  

Yeoh has since deleted the post after catching some flack. Many took issue with one particular part Yeoh shared that directly compares her possible victory to Blanchett’s. 

In the article, Seth points out that Blanchett already has two Oscars, and securing a third would only “confirm her status as an industry titan.” But for Yeoh, “an Oscar would be life-changing: her name would forever be preceded by the phrase ‘Academy Award winner,’ and it should result in her getting meatier parts, after a decade of being criminally underused in Hollywood.”

michelle yeoh posted 9 SLIDES showing the entire article on insta but y’all are choosing to focus on the ONE little snippet that mentions cate — from an article that MICHELLE DIDN’T WRITE might i add

— hannah (@hahncolman) March 7, 2023

Some interpreted this as being critical of Blanchett, which means that Yeoh sharing this to her Instagram could violate Academy Awards campaigning rules that expressly forbid “any tactic that singles out ‘the competition’ by name or title.” Oscar voting was still open at the time Yeoh shared the post. 

There’s no telling if sharing this post will impact Yeoh’s chances of taking home a gold statuette. An actor’s Oscar campaign is considered crucial to their chances of winning. 

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Michelle Yeoh sharing how historic her Best Actress win would be or making clear how much she wants this. White actors have done the same for decades when much less was at stake. Why should minority nominees then stay silent? https://t.co/pp0rR8gJ9w

— Zoë Rose Bryant (@ZoeRoseBryant) March 7, 2023

As Seth pointed out in her Vogue article, “It’s also important to remember that acting Oscars are very rarely, if ever, won based on a performance alone. It always has more to do with the narrative: the campaign the actor has run; the story they’ve told about themselves in the interviews they’ve given; whether or not they’re considered to be overdue.” 

Fortunately, both actresses have already been enjoying a successful awards season for their performances. 

Let’s just hope this year’s Oscars go smoothly and without incident. The last thing we need is another envelope flub like La La Land and Moonlight for best picture in 2017.