Diddy Speaks on Winning Oscar for Joey Badass-Starring Short Film
Written by SOURCE on April 26, 2021
Diddy is now a two-time Academy Award winner, and Joey Badass just scored his first.
The two MCs earned the Oscar together on Sunday night, with Diddy executive producing and Joey starring in the short film Two Distant Strangers, which came out victorious in the best live-action short category. The film, directed by Free and Martin Desmond Roe, follows a Black man who keeps waking up on the same day, only to keep getting killed by a police officer.
After winning, director Travon Free called up Diddy on FaceTime to share the moment with the mogul.
“It’s all about the Benjamins, baby,” Free said excitedly.
Diddy shared his reaction on Instagram, with a clip of him jumping for joy in his home.
In a statement after the ceremony, Diddy shared that he was blessed to win for a film as “powerful and important as this.”
“This film is a metaphor for the deadly cycles we experience and have to relive everyday as Black people in America,” he stated. “From being targeted by police, to fearing for our lives and watching more Black men and women killed on camera. I’m incredibly blessed to win my second Academy Award as a producer for a film as powerful and important as this. This is what happens when we unify as a people to tell our own stories and control our own narrative.”
He continued, saying that “Joey Badass did an excellent job as the lead in the film and words can’t express how proud I am to be a part of him winning his first Oscar.”
Joey made sure to celebrate, too, getting his own call from Diddy.
“What the fuck, so proud of you n***a,” Diddy said on a FaceTime with Joey, which he shared on his Instagram Stories. “What the fuck! Wouldn’t be no Oscar if it wasn’t for you, king.”
