news

With her subtle BAFTAs dig, Salma Hayek may have just unearthed 2018's Casey Affleck.

As Hollywood’s glittering facade began to crumble in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein allegations, Salma Hayek was one of the louder voices of the #MeToo movement.

The 51-year-old actress described in detail, in an essay for the New York Timeshow the disgraced film producer allegedly sexually harassed her, threatened to kill her and forced her to film a lesbian sex scene.

“For years, he was my monster… I don’t think he hated anything more than the word ‘no’,” she wrote.

Since then, Hayek has been a fierce advocate for Time’s Up, a cause started by the entertainment industry to fight sexual abuse.

And her appearance at the BAFTAs in London yesterday was no different.

So much so, Hayek used the few minutes she had on stage presenting the Best Actor award to speak up for women.

Watch Salma Hayek throw shade at men at the BAFTAs in the video below.

Video by BBC

“In this very important and historical year for women, I am here on this legendary stage to celebrate… men,” she said, perfectly straight-faced.

ADVERTISEMENT

After the nominees were announced, Hayek – who was dressed in black to support Time’s Up – was supposed to go onto name the winner.

Instead, she chucked us a bit of a curveball.

“Frances McDormand,” she said.

Sorry, what?

“Nah, just kidding. The BAFTA goes to Gary Oldman,” she finished.

Salma Hayek attends the BAFTAs. Image via Getty.
ADVERTISEMENT

It was, admittedly, a little confusing.

You might remember at the Golden Globes last month, Natalie Portman had a dig of her own while presenting the Best Director award.

Introducing the five hopefuls, Portman said: “And here are the all-male nominees.”

This was not only bloody brilliant, it also made immediate sense. Because to have not a single female nominee is ludicrous.

But over at the BAFTAs, McDormand did actually win an award for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - in her own category of Best Actress.

So while most viewers began fawning over Hayek for her sneaky jab, labelling her their "new favourite person", others felt it might have taken things too far.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

But there's a piece of the puzzle these critics are missing. Because dig a little deeper, and it seems there could be a lot more behind this.

It's all tied to the man who won the Best Actor BAFTA: Gary Oldman.

The 59-year-old British actor has been one of the big winners in this year's awards season for his role in The Darkest Hour.

But this is a man with a murky history.

In 2001, Oldman's ex-wife Donya Fiorentino accused him of assaulting her in front of their two sons.

Gary Oldman with his BAFTA. Image via Getty.
ADVERTISEMENT

“As I picked up the phone to call the police, Gary put his hand on my neck and squeezed. I backed away, with the phone receiver in my hand. I tried to dial 911. Gary grabbed the phone receiver from my hand, and hit me in the face with the telephone receiver three or four times. Both of the children were crying," Fiorentino said, according to the New York Daily News.

He denied the allegation.

It doesn't end there. Oldman has also previously downplayed the actions of other questionable men. In 2014, he went on expletive-laden rants defending the behaviours of Mel Gibson and Alex Baldwin.

“Well, if I called Nancy Pelosi a c*nt—and I’ll go one better, a f*cking useless c*nt—I can’t really say that. But Bill Maher and Jon Stewart can, and nobody’s going to stop them from working because of it. Bill Maher could call someone a fag and get away with it. He said to Seth MacFarlane this year, ‘I thought you were going to do the Oscars again. Instead they got a lesbian.’ He can say something like that. Is that more or less offensive than Alec Baldwin saying to someone in the street, ‘You fag?’ I don’t get it," Oldman said.

He then defended some of Gibson's most notorious slurs, including one where he told his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, "I hope you get raped by a pack of niggers." This is the same woman who wound up with broken teeth after a violent incident which forced Gibson to plead guilty to a charge of misdemeanour battery.

ADVERTISEMENT

"He got drunk and said a few things, but we’ve all said those things,” Oldman said. “We’re all f*cking hypocrites. That’s what I think about it. The policeman who arrested him has never used the word ‘nigger’ or ‘that f*cking Jew’?”

Casey Affleck at the Golden Globes in 2017. Image via Getty.
ADVERTISEMENT

This time last year, actor Casey Affleck was in Oldman's position, picking up acting awards left, right and centre. But after winning the Oscar for Manchester By The Sea, Affleck's reputation was shredded over allegations he sexually harassed two women while making 2010 film I'm Still Here. Affleck denied the claims and lawsuits were settled.

A year on, and on the backdrop of the Weinstein expose, not only has Affleck withdrawn from presenting any of the Best Actress awards, his face has not been seen at any ceremonies.

Is it possible that Oldman will turn into 2018's Casey Affleck?

As it currently stands, Oldman is on track to win the Academy Award for Best Actor on March 4.

All the while, the whispers about him are intensifying on social media.

And perhaps that is exactly what Hayek, who is a warrior for the feminist movement, was trying to draw our attention to.

Which raises another important question: In a time where more and more stories of abuse are emerging from Hollywood, what is the industry going to do about it? Should we keep rewarding men with grimy pasts? Or should it be business-as-usual until justice runs its course?

You can follow Sophie Aubrey on Twitter.

Listen: The Mamamia Out Loud team explain what the Time's Up movement actually does.