Julianne Hough criticized for 'acknowledging indigenous land' at the Oscars

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Julianne Hough was mercilessly mocked online after doing a ‘land acknowledgment’ as she hosted the Oscars red carpet.

During ABC’s red carpet broadcast, the Dancing with The Stars show acknowledged the indigenous tribes of the Los Angeles area. This mention led to backlash from viewers who saw it as insincere Hollywood posturing.

The host, Hough, 36, took a moment to say, ‘We gather in celebration of the Oscars on the ancestral lands of the Tongva, Tataviam and Chumash people, the traditional caretakers of this water and land. We honor and pay our respects to indigenous communities here and around the world.’

A land acknowledgment, as defined by the Natural History Museums of LA County, is ‘a formal statement that respects and recognizes Native Americans as the original stewards of the land.’

‘She pays homage to the Tongva tribe, but the Tongva moved into Southern California thousands of years after it had already been occupied by a more ancient tribe,’ said conservative filmmaker Matt Walsh.

‘They killed and displaced the inhabitants and took over. If they get to claim the title of “indigenous” then so do we.’

Another X user added: Julianne Hough and every other land acknowledgement virtue signaler can f*** all the way off.’

A third said: ‘Julianne Hough doing a land acknowledgment when she has done blackface is such a joke.’

Hough has apologized for wearing blackface in 2013 as part of a Halloween costume of the character ‘Crazy Eyes’ from the Netflix show Orange is the New Black.

‘Wearing blackface was a poor choice based on my own white privilege and white body bias that hurt people and is something that I regret doing to this day,’ she said in her apology.

Hough had another awkward moment on the Oscar’s red carpet when she asked Timothee Chalamet to recreate his Saturday Night Life performance, in which he played a fictional rapper for the show’s Rap Roundtable skit.

The Call Me By Your Name star politely declined, answering, ‘You know what? I’m gonna need a check.’

The awkward moment has circulated on the internet, with fans expressing disgust over Julianne’s question.

One person wrote on X, ‘Timothée Chalamet was asked to do his “skrt, skeet” SNL bit in Bob Dylan’s voice on the Oscars red carpet, and his reply is killing me lol “You know what? I’m gonna need a check.” lol pay the man!’

Someone else added to the thread, ‘“Dance for me, monkey” is a tactic that 9 times out of 10 will not go over the way the interviewer thinks it might.’

Another person wrote, ‘lol sorry to this woman but what a dumb question.’

The 97th Academy Awards honored the best films of 2024, and the starry ceremony was held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Conan O’Brien, 61, made his debut as Oscars host, after joking: ‘I only agreed to host so that I could get invited.’

Big winners on Sunday night included Zoe Saldana, who took home the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in the controversial Emilia Perez, and Adrien Brody, who triumphed over Timothée Chalamet for the Best Actor award with his performance in the The Brutalist.

Kieran Culkin kicked off the evening with a Best Supporting Actor win for A Real Pain while Anora’s Mikey Madison triumphed Demi Moore for the Best Actress award.

Demi could be seen with a clenched jaw as her name wasn’t called, but she did say ‘nice’ to herself as she applauded Mikey’s big win.

It was a particularly surprising upset because Demi had won the actress award at most of the major pre-Oscar events for her role in The Substance.

Mikey portrays an escort in Anora, an independent film with a $6 million budget for which Sean Baker won Best Director and Best Picture.