Director Jane Campion has had a roller coaster of a weekend. She won three big awards in two days for directing The Power of the Dog—the DGA, the BAFTA, and the Critics Choice—and became a viral sensation with her response to Sam Elliott’s criticism of the film Saturday night, but by Sunday, the memes and responses to Campion took a much more negative turn after one acceptance speech took a dig at two people in the room.
In some of her speeches and appearances, Campion, largely seen as a pioneer for female directors and one of the great directors working today, has touched on how the male-dominated profession is changing and how a new generation of female filmmakers will be inspired by the women making art now. And when she started her acceptance speech at the Critics Choice Awards Sunday night, Campion’s speech seemed to take a similar approach.
“It’s absolutely stunning to be here tonight in front of so many incredible women,” Campion said.
Campion name-checked Halle Berry, who had been given the #SeeHer Award earlier in the night, and then turned her attention to Venus and Serena Williams, who were both in attendance as producers of King Richard, a biopic centered around their father Richard (played by Will Smith) and the early days of their respective tennis careers. (They also spoke about the film on-stage.) The mention initially started out with praise as Campion said that “Venus and Serena, what an honor to be in the room with you.”
She mentions her fellow nominees, which included Paul Thomas Anderson, Kenneth Branagh, Guillermo del Toro, Steven Spielberg, and Denis Villeneuve before turning her attention back to the Williams sisters.
“I’d also just like to give my love out to the fellow—the guys, the nominees,” she added. “And Serena and Venus, you are such marvels. However, you don’t play against the guys like I have to.”
The camera immediately cuts to a shot of Venus Williams as the room applauds before Campion moves on to thank her cast and crew.
It’s an inaccurate assertion by Campion—both Venus and Serena Williams have played (and won) in mixed-doubles tennis—but also one that ignores the real battles that the Williams sisters, two of the greatest tennis players and athletes in the world, have faced off the court. Female athletes are routinely looked down upon, and for decades, female tennis athletes were paid less than their male counterparts, inequality that Venus Williams vocally fought to change. As Black athletes in a white-dominated sport, the Williams sisters also faced racist double standards, with many of the microaggressions they had to contend with early in their careers directly depicted in King Richard.
The Critics Choice Awards aired live on TV, so some people watched Campion’s speech that way. But tweets that recounted and paraphrased Campion’s comments starting with the shoutout to her fellow nominees spread like wildfire. Out-of-context, the comment came off as entirely random, mean-spirited, and even racist. And even when people saw the full speech in context, the dig toward Venus and Serena Williams because they mostly competed against women in their sport still felt unnecessary.
While pointing to Campion’s earlier comments about Elliott, others highlighted how quickly people’s perception of a famous director can change in just 24 hours.
And some mentioned Campion’s speech as a prime example of peak white feminism: She used a moment where she was attempting to uplift women in a male-dominated field to also put down two Black women.
While this past weekend garnered much attention, it’s probably not the last time we’ll hear from Campion, faux pas, and all. The Oscars air on March 27, where Campion is heavily favored to become the third woman to take the best directing prize.
Update 1:19pm CT, March 14: After Campion has issued an apology to Venus and Serena Williams for the comments she made in her acceptance speech, noting that “I did not intend to devalue these two legendary Black women and world-class athletes.”
“I made a thoughtless comment equating what I do in the film world with all that Serena Williams and Venus Williams have achieved,” Campion said in a statement (via Deadline). “I did not intend to devalue these two legendary Black women and world-class athletes. The fact is the Williams sisters have, actually, squared off against men on the court (and off), and they have both raised the bar and opened doors for what is possible for women in this world. The last thing I would ever want to do is minimize remarkable women. I love Serena and Venus. Their accomplishments are titanic and inspiring. Serena and Venus, I apologize and completely celebrate you.”
