Glass Onion

Janelle Monáe’s Pronouns Are ‘She/Her, They/Them, And Free-Ass Motherf*cker,’ She Declared In A Powerful Critics Choice Awards Speech

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Janelle Monae Critics Choice Awards 2023
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This weekend, Janelle Monáe popped up at the Critics Choice Awards, where she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Glass Onion. While that award ended up going to Angela Bassett for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Monáe was given the SeeHer Award, which “honors a woman who advocates for gender equality, portrays characters with authenticity, defies stereotypes and pushes boundaries,” per the Critics Choice Association.

Monáe made her acceptance speech memorable, too.

Introducing Monáe, Glass Onion co-star Kate Hudson said (as The Hollywood Reporter notes), “There are so many ways to describe Janelle: visionary artist, brilliant musician, inspirational, one-of-a-kind human being. I remember the moment we met on Glass Onion. Janelle walked down the staircase in this bright yellow dress, just exuding goddess, regal energy. It was like the seas parted. Everyone’s jaws dropped and the room instantly fell in love. It’s hard not to, but to know her, to see the care and dedication she nurtures in her relationships and in her art, is to really fall in love with her.”

Monáe then started her speech by saying her pronouns are “she/her, they/them, and free-ass motherf*cker,” per People.

She continued:

“I’ve tried to make an effort in my work — whether it’s storytelling through music, through film, through TV, through fashion, through literature — to highlight the ones who have been pushed to the margins of society who’ve been outcast or relegated to the other. I am non-binary, I am queer, and my identity influences my decisions in my work. I’ve always believed that through storytelling, we are able to shed light on a human experience, an experience that most people around this world won’t get an opportunity to see. And I keep this glimmer of hope in my heart that when someone meets a character, like the ones I’ve had an opportunity to play, you’d be more empathetic to their experience. […] You want to be more like them. You want to be more kind, less judgmental, and more eager to advocate for them.”

Despite Her Impressive Acting Resume, Janelle Monáe Doesn’t Consider Herself A ‘Serious Actor’

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janelle monae glass onion premiere london 2022
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Over the years, Janelle Monáe has shown to be quite the multihyphenate. On top of an incredible music discography, Monáe has been quite the scene stealer in movies like Moonlight, Hidden Figures, and most recently, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Still, she thinks of herself as a musician first.

In a recent interview with W, Monáe revealed that she still feels as though she’s dipping her toes in the acting waters.

“I’m still not a serious actor,” she said. “It’s all about playing, being silly. When you see me in a film, I don’t want you to see Janelle Monáe.”

Still, she said the elements of a film, like characters and a storyline, come into play when she makes her albums.

“…my albums are all concept albums, so they center around characters like the Dirty Computer, the Electric Lady, the ArchAndroid,” she said. “It’s in my blood to play characters and to do world-building.”

Perhaps we’ll get to see these theatrics at work soon. Earlier this month, she shared a video on Instagram of herself in the studio, playing what sounded like a snippet of a new song.

Janelle Monáe is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Viewers Were Stunned By Kanye West’s Pitch-Perfect ‘Cameo’ In ‘Glass Onion’

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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery finally hit Netflix this weekend and by most accounts, it lives up to the hype. While it had its detractors (namely Ben Shapiro, who might have seen a bit of himself in its ludicrous representatives of the shallow moneyed class), most of the reactions have been overwhelmingly positive — even if lots of attention has been lavished on one of its stars’ head wrinkles. As a satire of so-called disruptors, it’s spot-on, right down to the “cameo” appearance of one of the bigger self-righteous buffoons in pop culture today: Kanye West.

Kanye doesn’t actually appear in the film; rather, his likeness is captured in a mural on the wall of billionaire tech genius Miles Bron’s island home — the titular Glass Onion. It’s just a pitch-perfect detail that this pompous, self-important dork would admire Kanye so much that he’d get a painting of him on his wall. Of course, he would. Before Kanye’s recent spate of hateful behavior, you could imagine all kinds of these clueless capitalists boasting about their associations with Ye. Hell, even now, it seems like a significant portion of them are still okay with giving him a platform.

Now, the film was shot last year, well before Kanye finally fulfilled the prediction that Zack Fox made in 2018, but it probably plays even better and more on the nose now. Just check out viewers’ reactions as they realized that yes, this Elon Musk stand-in (although director Rian Johnson denies it) is just so proud of his Kanye mural. Hey, remember when Elon let Kanye back on Twitter (along with Donald Trump and a bunch of other vaguely Nazi-ish characters)? Janelle Monae’s character has the right idea.