“Raising awareness for the minority is attacking the majority”: Michelle Yeoh’s 1-Year-Old Post Twisted to Stir Controversy Against White Actresses

Controversies and speculations have always been a part of the entertainment industry and they always will be. While sometimes the claims being made on the Internet may make sense, other times it simply seems like people are reading too much into nothing. As for Cate Blanchett and Michelle Yeoh allegedly drifting apart, you decide which category this controversy falls in.

It seemed like the two were good friends, always hyping the other up. However, when Michelle Yeoh posted her unfiltered thoughts on Academy Awards back in 2023, netizens believed that the actress was coming for her so-called friend, Cate Blanchett. It has been a while since the 2023 Oscars have come and gone but it looks like some people have not forgotten the whole debacle.

Michelle Yeoh called out the Oscars in 2023

Just before the 95^th Academy Awards hit the screens, Michelle Yeoh took to her Instagram to post a screenshot of Vogue’s article by film & culture editor Radhika Seth.

The article was titled, “It’s Been Over Two Decades Since We’ve Had a Non-White Best Actress Winner. Will That Change in 2023?” and left fans pondering why no non-white actress had one Best Actress in recent times.

Yeoh, who was nominated for the category that year along with Cate Blanchett, Ana de Armas, Andrea Riseborough, and Michelle Williams, was able to relate to the article. So much so that she thought it was a good idea to repost it on her Instagram account.

Needless to say, it stirred up some unwanted controversy and also put her chances of winning in jeopardy. Since the screenshots she posted mentioned other nominees, particularly Blanchett, social media users pointed out that it violated the Academy’s rules. Rule number 11 states, “Any tactic that singles out ‘the competition’ by name or title is expressly forbidden.” Luckily, the actress wasn’t reprimanded.

However, fans do believe that Yeoh posting a screenshot from the article, singling out Blanchett, was a stab in the latter’s back. The post read,

Yeoh later deleted those posts from her account but the damage was done and eventually, controversies began sprouting on the Internet.

Michelle Yeoh’s post resurfaces on the Internet to make a point

User @khqupns called out female friendships in Hollywood, deeming them absolutely fake. Giving the example of Yeoh’s post that was taken to be against white actresses, the user pointed out how the two actresses were supposedly such good friends and how things turned sour soon before the Oscars.

When Blanchett and Yeoh interviewed each other for Variety’s Actors on Actors segment, the two seemed to be in awe of each other. The Thor: Ragnarok actress couldn’t stop praising Yeoh.

She stated,

I think we met in Hong Kong. We met, and I felt you before I saw you. But not in an inappropriate way. There’s something about your presence. You just have this aura.

Yeoh reciprocated her feelings, praising Blanchett’s ability as an actress. She stated, “You’re like a chameleon that goes from this to that: You’re an elf and then you’re a queen and then you are this.” However, after Yeoh made the controversial post, their friendship was nowhere to be found.

Just before she made the post, Yeoh and Blanchett seemed like the best girly-pop duo at the Spirit Awards. Check it out:

Michelle Yeoh and Cate Blanchett share a moment at the #SpiritAwards pic.twitter.com/cjpZT6ccyb

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 4, 2023

However, at the Oscars, the two actresses did not interact with each other at all. You can read the entire thread below:

remember when michelle yeoh and cate blanchett acted like besties in early 2023 and did actors on actors together, then days before the oscars michelle shared a post that said cate shouldn't win and since then they haven't spoken or been photographed together like at all lmao https://t.co/eVvSYhmlQe

— koji stan (@khqupns) January 8, 2025

Meanwhile, Yeoh’s year-old post once again stirred up unwanted controversy against white actresses. Users called out how raising voices for a minority group is often perceived as an attack on the majority, which is simply not true. Check out what netizens said about it all:

They think that raising awareness for the minority is attacking the majority

— loeun (@california_cvnt) January 9, 2025

When you’re used to privilege, equality feels like oppression

— FundamentalLack (@FundamentalLack) January 10, 2025

the oppressors fear that they'll be subjected to the same treatment they subject minorities to

— Franklin (@abc96825568) January 9, 2025

Who knew a post about white actresses dominating the Oscars’ Best Actress category would be spun into something like this? We are sure Yeoh had no malice in her heart but hey, the Internet’s not the Internet if it doesn’t escalate things, right? Meanwhile, Yeoh ended up winning the Best Actress award that year for Everything Everywhere All at Once.