Here’s everything queer that happened at the 97th Oscars

First off, let’s congratulate the winners — and no, we are not including "Emilia Pérez" in the official winners category — though the cast and crew did snag a few ‘wins.’ The real winners were actors and actresses who graced the red carpet with dashing and smashing looks and those who stunned us with their acceptance speeches. 

"The Wizard of Oz" intro to this year’s awards ceremony dazzled us all, as we were swept off our feet by Erivo and Grande’s dreamy and stunning "Defying Gravity" duet. 

Let’s just say Cynthia Erivo and Arianna Grande blew us away so far into the sky with their performance, we defied gravity. 

Erivo’s partner Lena Waithe, creator of TV series "The Chi," also made an appearance from the audience during many moments sprinkled throughout the Oscars broadcast. 

Though I’m sure Waithe looked at Erivo in awe and adoring admiration during her partner’s solo moment on stage, the way the cameras captured the adoring look Ari gave Erivo, just about melted our queer little hearts. 

It seems like this year we saw alarmingly low BIPOC and LGBTQ+ representation overall in nominees and winners.

This is painfully surprising considering that we are peaking nearly 100 years of Oscars awards ceremonies. 

Still, the opening intro dazzled us all with Ari’s historically important Dorothy slippers clapping together in unison with the intro of the music.  

Before getting into the winners, can I also just quickly mention how cringe it was for the acceptance song for the "Emilia Pérez" Academy Award for Best Original Song? I hope I’m someday able to wipe that from my memory.

Okay, now that I got that off my chest, let’s get into the awards. 

My biggest criticism about anyone at the Oscars this year is toward the "Emilia Pérez" cast and crew, whose silence spoke loudly when none of them thanked the trans community in any of their acceptance speeches.

They won Academy Awards for a storyline about the trans community and about the Mexican history of desaparecidos, but they did not acknowledge the community or the culture. Instead, I was expecting a shepherd’s cane to pull Camille Ducol backstage and off the mic. 

In my humble opinion, this film is not getting nearly enough criticism as it should be getting for being called a Mexican film — yet not starring a single Mexican actor. The film also just about the worst musical numbers I have ever heard. Zoe Saldaña won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, for her role as a singing lawyer who helps the cartel leader, played by Karla Sofía Gascón, undergo gender-affirming care and begin the process of transitioning. 

The film featured a terribly choppy syntax not normally used in the Spanish language, as well as accents and pronunciation that completely butchered the melody behind what maybe could have otherwise been somewhat palatable songs. 

I’m just going to say it one more time for those in the back — we could have done without that embarrassing sing-along for one of the few wins "Emilia Pérez" snagged. 

Many people across social media channels have tuned in to give their two cents on "Emília Pérez." Most are calling for more disapproval of the film — and we couldn’t agree more. 

And no, we’re not even going to waste precious time going over every single controversy currently plaguing the "Emília Pérez" cast and crew. There just isn’t enough time. 

At the 97th Oscars ceremony, Paul Tazewell became the first out gay, Black man to win the Oscar for Best Costume Design for his work on the box-office hit, "Wicked." In my humble opinion, it was a well-deserved win, but it’s also safe to say that it was tough competition as the other nominees designed the costumes for "The Complete Unknown," "Conclave," "Gladiator II" and "Nosferatu."

Tazewell, a celebrated costume designer who is renowned across Broadway, regional theaters and the big screen, got his second nomination and his first win for his work and we are just over-the-moon about it. "Wicked" also took home the award for Best Production Design. Production designer Nathan Crowley and set decorator Lee Sandales, accepted the award and in Sandales’ acceptance speech, he thanked his husband. 

Queen Latifah made a grand appearance and stunned the audience with her tribute to the late Quincy Jones, who passed away in November, leaving behind an immense legacy in the music industry. 

All in all, only two queer nominees took home awards. 

Now, let’s get into Conan’s non-funny jokes.

This isn’t necessarily a queer recap moment, but we did have some queer thoughts about this issue. Conan hosted the 97th Academy Awards and we’re going to make a guestimation that 97 percent of his jokes did not hit. 

I think most of us were definitely expecting a joke or two about Gascón, but the two that Conan delivered, were at best mediocre. "'Anora' uses the F word 479 times, that’s only three more than the record set by Karla Sofía Gascón’s publicist,” said Conan on stage.  “And if you are going to tweet about the Oscars, remember, my name is Jimmy Kimmel.” 

At this point, I’m not even sure if it was really the audience laughing, or if it was some sort of button that plays 90s canned laughter when pressed by the show producers when the jokes aren’t funny and no one is actually laughing. 

So, who slayed with their fits and who didn’t at the Red Carpet and afterparty? 

It’s safe to say that Colman Domingo, Erivo and Grande were among the best dressed at this year’s Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Every single one of their looks, ATE. 

What were some of your favorite looks? What were others who didn’t deliver?