Morgan Freeman’s quip that the SAG statue is gender specific – as in full frontal male nudity – drew applause from the audience Sunday at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Freeman received the guild's lifetime achievement award the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. After being introduced by actress Rita Moreno, Freeman commented on the SAG award statuette, Variety reported.
"I wasn't going to do this; I'm going to tell you what’s wrong with this statue," Morgan said. "It works from the back, but from the front, it's gender specific. Maybe I started something."
The Huffington Post noted that the SAG statuette — known as The Actor" — depicts a nude male figure holding two masks, one of comedy and one of tragedy. (The Lifetime Achievement Award that Freeman received depicts just the masks).
Freeman's comments appeared to be a nod to the Time's Up initiative in which prominent women announced earlier this month that they were standing in solidarity for their working-class counterparts who have experienced sexual misconduct, "Entertainment Tonight" noted, and they vowed to combat sexual harassment in all working environments, in and outside of Hollywood.
Freeman, 80, an Oscar winner who did not break into the film industry until he was 50, appeared to get many on social media thinking.
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