Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor slammed for saying Michelle Yeoh's Oscars win would be 'PR campaign around race'

Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor shared his opinions about who should win the Best Actress award at the Oscars 2023 on Twitter saying that he is "getting nightmares" if Cate Blanchett loses out the statuette to Michelle Yeoh because of the latter's "PR campaign centered around race".

"I’m getting nightmares about Cate Blanchett losing to Michelle Yeoh at the Oscars...how can a PR campaign centered around race put one of the best performances of all time in the shadows? Any opinions guys", tweeted Anil Kapoor's son. The users on the micro-blogging platform slammed the actor for undermining Yeoh's performance.

A Twitter user called him a 'nepo flop baby' as they wrote, "I keep coming back to this because this particular sentiment is coming from a fellow Asian actor albeit a nepo flop baby. AND he says this when his own film industry is run rampant with racism and colorism." Another tweeted, "He should be losing sleep over the fact that he'll never, ever be able to give a performance like Michelle Yeoh despite the many, many privileges and opportunities presented to him."

"How do you define best performance, what are the tangible parameters. There are so many who genuinely liked Michelle Yeoh's performance. It is very subjective. It is an award, no life altering damage. Even your nightmares are elitist. Wow", wrote another user.  Another tweet read, "Its okay to love an actor's performance over another, but to downplay another actor's performance as a PR campaign is so disingenuous."

I keep coming back to this because this particular sentiment is coming from a fellow asian actor albeit a nepo flop baby. AND he says this when his own film industry is run rampant with racism and colorism.

Make it make sense. https://t.co/NLn6TTaa5A

— hugeasmammothfilms (@hugeasmammoth) March 11, 2023

He should be losing sleep over the fact that he'll never, ever be able to give a performance like Michelle Yeoh despite the many, many privileges and opportunities presented to him. pic.twitter.com/rD34giObCf

— Shreemi Verma (@shreemiverma) March 11, 2023

How do you define best performance.. what are the tangible parameters.. There are so many who genuinely liked Michelle yeoh's performance.. It is very subjective. It is an award no life altering damage.. Even ur nightmares are elitist.. Wow

— Rajesh (@sreeraajj) March 10, 2023

Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor later deleted his tweet. Cate Blanchett is nominated for her titular performance of Lydia Tar in Todd Field's psychological drama Tar, whereas Michelle Yeoh is nominated for playing Evelyn Quan Wang in Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert's absurdist drama Everything Everywhere All at Once. 

Both are frontrunners to win the Best Actress trophy as Cate won the Golden Globe award for Best Performance in a Motion Picture – Drama, while Yeoh won the Globe Globe award for Best Performance in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy in January. Michelle Yeoh has become the first Malaysian to receive an Academy Award nomination in any category for her nomination at the 95th Academy Awards.

READ | Meet Bomman and Bellie, the tribal couple who inspired India's Oscar-nominated short documentary The Elephant Whisperers