Upon winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress on Sunday night, Patricia Arquette stood before millions of viewers and took a bold stance on an issue dear to her heart.
"To every woman who gave birth to every citizen and taxpayer of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights," Arquette said, adding:
"It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America."
The remarks garnered applause and shouts of encouragement from Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lopez, among others. But not everyone was on Team Arquette afterward.
Actress Stacey Dash, for example, appeared on Fox News and said she was "appalled" by Arquette's speech. How so?
"I couldn't believe it," Dash, who recently implied that only bad girls get raped, said on Fox and Friends.
“Patricia Arquette needs to do her history. In 1963, Kennedy passed an equal pay law. It's still in effect. I didn't get the memo that I didn't have any rights."
Arquette, of course, never said women don't have any rights.
Kennedy, meanwhile, himself said in 1963 that “much remains to be done to achieve full equality of economic opportunity,” while President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act in January 2009.
The Senate, however, blocked efforts to expand this act in 2012.
Not that Arquette needs us to speak for her. The actress took to Twitter last night and fired back at critics on her own.
“Wage equality will help ALL women of all races in America. It will also help their children and society,” she wrote, addressing comments she made to the press about how "gay people, and all the people of color" should back the women's rights movement.
“I have long been an advocate for the rights of the #LBGT community. The question is why aren't you an advocate for equality for ALL women?” she continued, concluding:
"Guess which women are the most negatively effected in wage inequality? Women of color. #Equalpay for ALL women. Women stand together in this."
"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage my very dear friend, Glom Gazingo," quipped, to which John Travolta replied (as he creepily touched her face): "I deserved that. But you, you my darling, my beautiful, my wickedly talented, Idina Menzel. Is that right?"
"Call your mom, everybody. I've told this to like a billion people or so, call your mom, call your dad. If you're lucky enough to have a parent or two alive on this planet, call them. Don't text, don't email, call them on the phone, tell them you love them and thank them and listen to them for as long as they want to talk to you. Thank you, Mom and Dad."
"How did I get here? We made a film – black-and-white – about the need for silence and withdrawal from the world and contemplation, and here we are, at this epicenter of noise and world attention. Fantastic! Life is full of surprises."
"To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else's equal rights. It's our time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the United States of America."
"Recently John and I got to go to Selma, and perform 'Glory' on the same bridge that Dr. King and the people of the Civil Rights movement marched on 50 years ago. This bridge was once a landmark of a divided nation but now it's the symbol for change. The spirit of this bridge transcends race, religion, sexual orientation and social status."
"When I was 16 years old, I tried to kill myself because I felt weird, and I felt different and I felt like I did not belong – and now I'm standing here. And so I would like for this moment to be for that kid out there who feels like she's weird or she's different, or she doesn't fit in anywhere – yes, you do. I promise you do. Stay weird, stay different, and then when it's your turn, and you are standing on this stage, please pass the same message to the next person who comes along."
"This belongs to all of those people around the world battling ALS. It belongs to one exceptional family: Stephen, Jane, Jonathan and the Hawking children. And I will be its custodian and I will promise you I will look after him."
"I read an article that said that winning an Oscar could lead to living five years longer. If that's true, I'd really like to thank the Academy because my husband is younger than me."
