Academy-Award winner Patricia Arquette took to Twitter on Monday to respond to the social media firestorm ignited by her backstage comments following her Best Supporting Actress acceptance speech.
“I have long been an advocate for the rights of the #LBGT community. The question is why aren’t you an advocate for equality for ALL women?” tweeted Arquette, adding, “If you are fighting against #Equalpay you are fighting for ALL women and especially women of color to make less money than men.”
During her Sunday night acceptance speech for her role in “Boyhood,” Arquette brought the audience at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood to its feet, getting an enthusiastic response from fellow actresses Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lopez.
Guess which women are the most negatively effected in wage inequality? Women of color. #Equalpay for ALL women. Women stand together in this
— Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) February 23, 2015
But her comments backstage later got the Oscar winner in hot water on social media.
Elaborating on her acceptance speech comments about equal pay for women, Arquette told reporters, “It’s time for all the women in America and all the men that love women and all the gay people and all the people of color that we’ve all fought for to fight for us now.”
That apparently didn’t sit well with some Twitter users.
Her comments quickly became a trending topic on social media, with some feeling as though the actress went too far.
.@PattyArquette should meet with the cast of “Orange Is The New Black” & lecture them on how queer people of color aren’t feminist enough.
— Saeed Jones (@theferocity) February 23, 2015
https://twitter.com/Luvvie/status/569766933333028864
https://twitter.com/iDXR/status/569742939431137281
Dear Patricia Arquette: Blacks and gays owe white women nothing http://t.co/N85iVRbLbT – My take on #PatriciaArquette & her #Oscars side-eye
— ☼Blue-nita Applebum (@bluecentric) February 23, 2015
Patricia Arquette had a dope thought backstage but didn't think it all the way through lol just got caught in the moment
— Roronoa Zoro 1/2 of "No Jobbers Allowed" (@Big_Ish) February 23, 2015
Arquette is a founder GiveLove.org, a nonprofit organization intended to help displaced families and that develops “community-led sanitation projects to improve public health and create jobs around recycling.”
In an otherwise sedate ceremony, her acceptance speech roused Sunday night’s Oscars audience.
“We have fought for everybody else’s equal rights,” Arquette said. “It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America.”
Arquette still has some A-list supporters, including Chelsea Clinton, vice chair of the Clinton Foundation.
GLAAD and NAACP have not yet responded to TheWrap’s request for comment.
You can watch Arquette’s acceptance speech here.