Colman Domingo’s ‘Rustin’ Monologue About Justifying His Existence Proves He Deserves The Oscar

If you need proof that Colman Domingo deserves to win the Academy Award for Rustin at the 2024 Oscars, look no further than the moment in the Netflix biopic where Domingo delivers an impassioned monologue to his friend, Martin Luther King Jr. (played by Aml Ameen), refusing to resign from his role in organizing the famed 1963 March on Washington.

As Bayard Rustin—an openly gay civil rights leader whose contribution to the movement has been downplayed for years, in part due to his sexuality—Domingo is magnetic. His lopsided smile (missing a tooth or two, like the real Rustin, thanks to an altercation with police), fast-walk, and gangly limbs will endear you immediately. But it’s the fire behind his eyes and the passion in his voice that really bring the performance home. And that’s on full display in the scene where Rustin strands up to his longtime friend and says, no, actually, he won’t resign from his position.

For context: At this point in the film, Rustin’s political enemies have dredged up an old scandal. In 1953, Rustin was arrested for having sex with two men in a parked car in Pasadena, California. His charge was “sex perversion,” the term for any sexual relations between two men at the time in the state, even if it was consensual. Ten years later, the charges resurface. (Likely thanks to Hoover and the FBI, who hope to shut down the march altogether.) Rustin faces pressure from King and other Black leaders to resign from his position in organizing the March on Washington in response, for the good of the cause. Rustin’s refusal to do so is Domingo’s Oscar-reel moment—which you can watch in the player above.

“You are one of the smartest men I know,” Rustin, with a tremor in his voice, tells King. “So explain to me why, after all that’s left undone, am I yet again forced to justify my existence.”

When King admits to Rustin that, yes, people are expecting him to resign, Rustin replies they will have to fire him. “I will not resign,” Domingo rumbles, a fire raging behind his eyes. “On the day that I was born Black, I was also born a homosexual. They either believe in freedom and justice for all, or they do not.”

Though he never raises his voice, Domingo bites out this last phrase. His enunciation of the final “T” in “not” is sharp enough to kill. Even if it wasn’t known that Domingo himself is a gay man who’s been out to the public for years, you’d still be able to feel the intimate, personal nature of this monologue. Domingo imbues his voice with just a hint of a plea—not quite begging, not quite demanding, but asking his friend to accept him for who is.

In fact, Domingo is one of only two out, gay men to have been nominated for an Oscar, for playing a gay character. (The first was Ian McKellen for 1999’s Gods and Monsters.) In response to this fact, in an interview with Variety, Domingo said, “Hopefully, I won’t be the last. There are incremental changes, but we need more people to champion these stories. It doesn’t have to look like you to be about you.” Domingo also shared his husband Raúl’s sweet reaction to the news: “My husband was watching the feed. When they said my name, he literally laid on the floor. We had a little cry together.”

Cillian Murphy is currently favored to take home the statue for Best Actor, and there’s no doubt he delivered a spectacular performance in Oppenheimer. But after watching Domingo’s Rustin speech—which, again, you can view in the player on the top of this page—how can you not think that is the man who deserves to win?