Sam Smith Takes Break from Twitter Following Oscars Backlash

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 2 March 16

Sam Smith was clearly not trying to piss anyone off during his Oscars acceptance speech, but boy did he. After winning Best Original Song for "Writing's on the Wall", the 23-year-old singer dedicated his award to the LGBT community around the world—and mistakenly stated that he thought he was the first openly gay man to win an Oscar.

Except, he wasn't. And while many tweeted at the singer, one especially stood out: Dustin Lance Black, the Oscar winner for Best Original Screenplay for the movie Milk. As the two publicly tweeted back and forth, Smith cleared up his error before announcing his break from the platform.

Second openly gay man to win an oscar or third or fourth or 100th, It wasn't my point.February 29, 2016

My point was to shine some light on the LGBT community who i love so dearly.February 29, 2016

I'm logging off for a while. Some Martinis shaken not stirred are definitely in order.March 1, 2016

You're right, Smith—martinis do make everything better.

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Samantha Leal

Samantha Leal is the Deputy Editor at Well+Good, where she spends most of her day thinking of new ideas across platforms, bringing on new writers, overseeing the day-to-day of the website, and working with the awesome team to produce the best stories and packages. Before W+G, she was the Senior Web Editor for Marie Claire and the Deputy Editor for Latina.com, with bylines all over the internet. Graduating from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University with a minor in African history, she’s written everything from travel guides to political op-eds to wine explainers (currently enrolled in the WSET program) to celebrity profiles. Find her online pretty much everywhere @samanthajoleal.