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Cynthia Erivo may not have won the Academy Award for Best Actress but that didn’t stop the Harriett star from owning the Oscars stage on Sunday night.
Her rendition of “Stand Up” was easily the night’s most powerful performance and proved why the triple threat has the pipes to portray Aretha Franklin in the upcoming anthology series Genius.
She nearly brought the celeb-filled house down when she started singing after a sweet introduction from Zazie Beetz and Ricky Minor.
Cynthia Erivo transforms into Aretha Franklin in National Geographic’s upcoming anthology series
Check out her incredible performance:
PHOTOS: Janelle Monae, Regina King, Cynthia Erivo and more SLAY at the Oscars
TheGrio caught up with the talented beauty right before she performed a tribute to Janet Jackson at Clive Davis’ annual Pre-Grammy Gala a few weeks back and she shared her thoughts on being one of the only people of color nominated for an Academy Award this year.
“What it means is that I hope it serves as an example as to why we need to start opening our arms to us. We need to start giving us roses. There are so many wonderful performers this year, wonderful directors who have made wonderful films. And I don’t want this to be it. I want this to be something you look at and go ‘this doesn’t feel right,’” she said.
BLOSCARS: Our list of Black folks and films that should have been nominated for Oscars
“So now we need to extend our arms and open our arms to other women of color and other black women who do wonderful work in film so that I’m not the only one. I want to share it with people. I want to share it with my sisters, I want to share it with my brothers. I want to be able to look across the room and see someone who has done the work just me, as much as I have so we can share in that moment. You know, it’s not supposed to be a lonely place.”
The British beauty admitted the lack of diversity on this year’s list of nominees made the honor is somewhat bittersweet.
“Yeah. You know, because I want to be able to share it with other people,” she said.
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