‘I’m logging off for a while’ … Sam Smith Photograph: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Singer to take a break online after being mocked for claim to be the first openly gay man to receive an Academy Award
Smith faced criticism after he received the award for best song for the James Bond film Spectre, and suggested on stage that he might be the first openly gay man to win an Oscar. “I read an article … by Sir Ian McKellen and he said no openly gay man had ever won an Oscar,” Smith said at the time. In fact, McKellen was talking specifically about the best actor award. Previous openly gay winners of academy awards include Elton John, Stephen Sondheim and director Dustin Lance Black, who won an Oscar in 2009 for his film Milk. The latter criticised Smith on Twitter, saying: “If you have no idea who I am, it may be time to stop texting my fiance [Tom Daley].”
Smith responded to the furore, saying: “Second openly gay man to win an Oscar or third or fourth or 100th, it wasn’t my point. My point was to shine some light on the LGBT community who I love so dearly.”
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He also apologised to Black and has decided to take a break from social media, writing: “I’m logging off for a while. Some martinis shaken not stirred are definitely in order.”
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