Tag: Academy Awards

Ex-NFL player Matthew Cherry won an Oscar for animated short film — and predicted it 8 years ago

On Sunday at the Academy Awards, Matthew Cherry became just the second pro athlete to win an Oscar for “Hair Love.” The late Kobe Bryant won one in 2018 with his animated short “Dear Basketball.”

Matthew A. Cherry, a former NFL wide receiver who had exactly zero receptions during his career as he bounced around from team to team, reinvented himself and the reward for that was an actual award, a big shiny gold one on Sunday: An Oscar for the animated short film “Hair Love.”

Cherry wrote and directed the short, about an African-American father attempting to style his young daughter’s hair for the first time.

The film was produced after a 2017 Kickstarter campaign and was also released as a children’s book in May 2019, with illustrations by Vashti Harrison.

Cherry becomes just the second pro athlete to win an Oscar. The late Kobe Bryant won one in 2018 with his animated short “Dear Basketball.”

“’Hair Love’ was done because we wanted to see more representation in animation,” Cherry said after accepting the award with Sony Pictures Animation executive Karen Rupert Toliver. “We wanted to normalize black hair. There’s a very important issue that’s out there, the CROWN Act, and if we can help to get this passed in all 50 states, it will help stories like DeAndre Arnold’s — who is our special guest tonight — stop to happen.”

The reference to Arnold, who attended the Oscars as Cherry’s guest, is this:

The speech was powerful and, naturally, included a shout-out to Kobe.

Cherry called his shot back in 2012. How confident is that?

You can watch the Oscar-winning short film below.

Finally, here are Cherry’s sweet tweets after the ceremony:

 

 

The Genesis Invitational honors Kobe Bryant with eighth-hole tribute

The Genesis Invitational will honor former Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant on the eighth hole during the 2020 event.

The tributes to Kobe Bryant keep rolling in.

The Genesis Invitational, beginning Thursday at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California, dedicated the eighth hole to the former Los Angeles Laker with a special hole sign and flag in the Lakers’ classic purple and gold.

The hole sign for the par-4, 433-yard eighth also features Bryant’s on-court persona and nickname, “Mamba.”

This is only the latest in several ongoing tributes to Bryant, 41, who died Jan. 26 alongside his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven others in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.

Film director Spike Lee wore a purple and gold suit Sunday to the Academy Awards with Bryant’s other number with the Lakers, 24, sown onto the blazer’s lapels and the upper back. The Academy Awards paid tribute to Bryant, who won an Oscar in 2018 for the year’s Best Animated Short Film “Dear Basketball,” during the In Memoriam tribute.

The Waste Management Phoenix Open honored Bryant one week after his death by using a purple and gold flag on TPC Scottsdale’s famed 16th hole for the event’s final round. The flag featured No. 24 on one side and No. 8 on the other. The hole location was 24 paces onto the green and eight paces from the left, and the hole was cut at 8:24 a.m.

PGA Tour players paid tribute to Bryant during the Waste Management Phoenix Open, too. Tony Finau played his first round in purple and gold golf shoes while Justin Thomas wore Bryant’s No. 33 jersey from Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.

Thomas also used four wedges stamped with the phrases, “Mamba mentality,” “Black Mamba,” “Kobe Bean Bryant” and “81 points” during the event. Thomas announced Thursday he plans to auction the wedges and donate funds from the sale to the The MambaOnThree Fund, which was started by the Mamba Sports Foundation after Bryant’s helicopter crash. The fund aids the families of seven other victims of the crash: John Altobelli, Keri Altobelli, Alyssa Altobelli, Sarah Chester, Payton Chester, Christina Mauser and pilot Ara Zobayan.

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Former Browns WR Andrew Hawkins wins an Academy Award

Former Browns WR Andrew Hawkins wins an Academy Award as the executive producer of Hair Love

Congratulations to former Cleveland Browns wide receiver Andrew Hawkins! On Sunday night, “Hawk” won an Academy Award for producing the animated short, “Hair Love”.

Hawkins was an executive producer of the film, directed by Matthew Cherry, who is also a former NFL wide receiver after starring at that position at the University of Akron. The award-winning film deals with the travails of an African-American father trying to do his daughter’s hair for the first time.

Hawkins played for the Browns from 2014-2016 and was a fan favorite during his time. He also co-hosts the Thomahawk podcast with former teammate Joe Thomas. It is his first Oscar.

Hair Love runs just over six minutes and it’s a lot of fun: