Going into last night’s Oscar ceremony, we all had high hopes that Angela Bassett would take home the Best Supporting Actress award for her performance as Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. But even she couldn’t hide her disappointment when Jamie Lee Curtis’ name was called instead.
A short while later, Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors took to the stage to express their love for Bassett. Jordan referenced a key moment in Black Panther, when he addressed her as “Hey Auntie,” adding, “We love you,” to drive the point home. But what might have seemed like a tender moment and an innocent reference to a line from a box office smash hit actually strikes a nerve with some other well-known Black women in the business.