sag awards 2018

Morgan Freeman Calls Out SAG Awards for ‘Gender Specific’ Statues in Acceptance Speech

Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Between his decades of exemplary work and that voice, it’s hard to imagine how Morgan Freeman could possibly make himself more iconic at this point, especially while in the middle of accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award at the SAG Awards. Then on Sunday night he (1) wore that hat and (2) wondered out loud why the traditional SAG Awards statuette, known as the Actor, was clearly male, as you can see in the photo below. Apparently, glimpsing the statue from the back opens up a world of possibilities in the creative mind.

“I wasn’t going to do this. I’m going to tell you what’s wrong with this statue,” Freeman said with a smile at the close of his speech, during which he bantered with longtime friend and presenter Rita Moreno. “It works from the back but from the front? It’s gender specific. Maybe I started something.” Which begs the questions: should awards-show statuettes be made more androgynous or have a corresponding female counterpoint? Or maybe, just maybe, the SAG Awards should take the path least traveled when addressing this problem: butts on both sides.

Morgan Freeman Calls Out SAG for ‘Gender Specific’ Statues