Teyana Taylor after Oscar

It’s amazing how fast we move on from the Oscars. I know, I know, the pace of everything is insanely fast, but awards season eats up SO MUCH mental space and then it’s over and poof. It’s like it never happened. It’s like Christmas like that. I was thinking about this because I saw these photos of Teyana Taylor and I was like, Oh my god, remember when she was an Oscar nominee? And then I was like, that was less than a month ago. Time is in some kind of conspiracy with the sun, against me, personally.

Teyana had a good run. She owned red carpets everywhere. She got to gossip with Leonardo DiCaprio—literally the ONE activity I would like to do with Leonardo DiCaprio—and she won some hardware. And Teyana is not done, she still has a comedy movie with Kevin Hart due out later this year. Historically, there has been some evidence that Oscar nominations, even Oscar wins, don’t pan out for women of color like they do for white women—Black women don’t see the same salary bumps, they don’t automatically start getting offered bigger and better roles. There are op-eds, Halle Berry has talked about it, I just hope that maybe the needle has moved enough that Teyana and the younger generations see more opportunities come from major awards recognition.

I think Teyana will be fine, she is hugely talented, a true multi-hyphenate, but it bums me out that I have been writing about this stuff for going on sixteen years and so little has changed. This is the exact conversation we had about Lupita Nyong’o in 2012. And Lupita is fine, but she notably did not get the same kind of opportunities as her fellow 2010s Oscar winners like Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone. They got shiny lead role after shiny lead role, stacking nominations and trophies on top of each other, while Lupita kept getting voice over roles. Lupita works a lot, I know. She does movies, she does theater, she’s produced a couple TV projects.

I’m not saying there’s NO work. Just can we admit that nearly fifteen years later, it’s disappointing to still be having this conversation. Especially since it really started to feel like meaningful changes were being made, that equity was actually building, and more doors were opening for more people across the board. But the last few years have pretty well undone whatever little progress was made. Maybe one day we can take three steps forward without taking four steps back, is all I’m saying.

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What else happened today…

Perfumes and signature scents come up a lot on The Squawk. People seem to be of two minds, some people love having a signature scent, others don’t. Personally, perfume is a mood, season, and time of day thing. I have a few staples in my scent wardrobe (Nomad Wax Co’s 1977 and Blackout), but I like different scents depending on where I am, who I am with, and what I am doing. One scent can never be all things to me. I’m always open to new scent-spiration, if you will.

Enter Keta Burke-Williams, a young Black woman who founded perfume company Ourside, with small-batch perfumes made in the Bronx. The scents are inspired by daydreams, which is exactly the kind of whimsy I appreciate in perfume. Perfume is fantasy, we should be fantastical when talking about it. I am intrigued! (Popsugar) 

Paleyfest is happening in LA as TV people campaign for Emmy nominations. Shrinking has a cast full of stylish women, and they were out in force for their panel. Jason Segel looks put together for a man but notably Did Less than his lady co-stars.

Speaking of Paleyfest, The Pitt’s panel is Sunday night. Supriya Ganesh pulled out of the panel after it was announced her character, Dr. Mohan, is exiting the show after season two. There still isn’t any smoke about on-set issues but based on interviews Ganesh gave while promoting season two, I think she assumed Mohan had a longer future in the pit. Once again, maybe the creative team behind The Pitt needs to ask themselves why this is so messy, and did it have to be this way.

I do think they’ve been setting up Mohan to leave all season—notably, The Pitt works in an old-fashioned TV way of beginning production before all scripts are complete, actors wouldn’t know their characters’ fates when starting production, or even when promoting the show, they still had not wrapped filming on season two while they were winning awards a couple months ago—but was this situation handled well? I would say no. Ganesh seems caught flat-footed, the producers didn’t seem ready for the backlash, and I am just wondering if there is a communication issue that could better address this going forward. After all, The Pitt is built to be a revolving-door ensemble. The bosses have got to get better at handling this, because they will be going through this situation every year. (Go Fug Yourself) 

Brian Cox is back on his bullsh-t, sh-ttalking other actors, including Daniel Day-Lewis and Edward Norton. Never change, Logan Roy, never change. (Celebitchy)  

This week I wrote a retrospective for All the President’s Men, which turned 50 years old yesterday. One of my favorite things to do on The Squawk is deep dive into older films, and I am especially proud of this piece, about one of my favorite “documents movies” of all time. It’s just so satisfying watching people put all the pieces together, and All the President’s Men is about the pieces more than the results. I try to do these retrospective reviews regularly and you know what is coming up next month? The 35^th anniversary of Thelma & Louise. (The Squawk)