Following the Oscar nomination of Lily Gladstone for Best Actress for her role in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” many have expressed their support, as the actress is the first Native American to be nominated in the category.
Support from one fellow actor in particular—co-star Leonardo DiCaprio, 49—has drawn criticism from some online, with users expressing that they feel the actor’s history of environmental activism draws a stark contrast to his proclivity for dating almost exclusively women in their 20s.
In a post to X, formerly known as Twitter, one user described what they observed to be a “paradox” of sorts. Posted on Jan. 25 by X user @ijboljng, the initial post has drawn over 3.5 million views.
“Leo gotta be one of the strangest celebrities cause how u hoeing around with girls half ur age and lounging on yachts while also casually being a full-time environmental and social activist — not judging it’s just so funny to me,” they wrote.
In a secondary post, they wrote that they checked the movie star’s Instagram profile and found the post to be an interesting use of his platform.
“Checked his insta today and i was like okayyyyyy good on him for using his platform for change,” they wrote.
Several users shared their own thoughts on the matter, with some wondering what the star’s dating preferences have to do with his history of activism.
“Yahh i kinda blame it on him being a child star,” one user wrote. “Like almost all of the ones who were able to maintain that level of fame into adulthood are kinda wacky in some ways.”
“How do any of these things align?” another user wrote. “He can’t show support for indigenous people he WORKED with because he dates girls younger than him?”
“Because those things are unrelated,” a user wrote.
Some even justified what they thought to be a balance between work and play.
“Putting myself in his shoes, here’s a man who’s thrown himself into his craft (he honestly should have about 3 more Oscars than he currently does) AND is using his platform to enact meaningful, lasting change,” one user wrote. “That’s a lot of sacrifice. You’ve gotta let yourself have SOMETHING.”
“At this point I’m almost sure that the ‘young woman dating’ it’s just for his Hollywood image cause how can you be THAT much invested in environnement and sociality and still doing that?” another poster wrote. “Usally people do the reverse thing.”
“I don’t really get the juxtaposition, he gets to bang hot women and be a supporter of indigenous activism,” a poster wrote. “Sounds pretty stand up to me and I’m not even that fond of his acting work.”
In response to criticism from other users, the original poster clarified that she did not mean to imply anything about DiCaprio with her post.
“That’s not what i meant to imply, i just think he’s an interesting paradox,” they wrote.
It is worth noting that DiCaprio himself was not nominated for his performance in the film, which many are dubbing it a snub, but “Killers of the Flower Moon” received a nomination for Best Picture. The 94th Academy Awards—known as the Oscars—will be awarded on Mar. 10, 2024.
The Daily Dot has reached out to representation for DiCaprio and Gladstone via email, as well as to @ijboljng via X.
