Nobody in Hollywood Can Find Pakistan on the Map, Says KumailNanjiani
Los Angeles, CA: KumailNanjiani and Lupita Nyong'o just made a political statement at this year's Oscars.
The Pakistani comedian and the Black Panther star were one of the presenters at this year's Oscars and before announcing the Best Production Design nominees, the two took the opportunity to take a jibe at the administration for its treatment of immigrants.
Nanjiani and Nyong'o are recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration program, the fate of which is in question as Trump ended DACA in September.
Lupita Nyong'o said, "We are the two actors you keep hearing about but whose names you have trouble pronouncing."
And Nanjiani quipped, "Actually, I have to come clean. KumailNanjiani is my stage name. My actual given Pakistani name is Chris Pine. So you can imagine how annoyed I was when the other — when the white Chris Pine showed up. The “real” Chris Pine.
To which Nyong'o added, "We are also immigrants. I’m from Kenya."
Speaking about his Pakistani background, Nanjiani said, "And I am from Pakistan and Iowa. Two places that nobody in Hollywood can find on a map."
Giving hope to other immigrants in the US, Nyong'o said, "And like everyone in this room, and everyone watching at home, we are dreamers. We grew up dreaming of one day working in movies. Dreams are the foundation of Hollywood. And dreams are the foundation of America."
"And so — to all the dreamers out there, we stand with you. Now, the nominees for achievement in production design," Nanjiani concluded. – Images
According to another report by Stephanie Petit for People Movies, KumailNanjiani hints that his love story with wife Emily V. Gordon might have ended very differently if their roles were reversed.
The Big Sick, the movie the couple wrote about their romance, chronicles the period when Gordon fell inexplicably ill and was put into a medically induced coma early in their relationship. But the Pakistani-born Nanjiani, who was also facing family pressure to enter into an arranged marriage, stuck by his then-girlfriend while simultaneously trying to placate his parents and keep his relationship with Gordon a secret.
But had Nanjiani been the one to become sick, their story could have had a very different ending, they said on the Oscars red carpet Sunday.
“She’d be gone,” the Silicon Valley star, 40, said during the PEOPLE and Entertainment Weekly Red Carpet Live pre-show on the Academy Awards red carpet. “She would have left. That would have been the difference.”
Gordon, 38, added, “I would have been very rebellious from the start and I would have already been like, ‘I’m going to marry who I want to marry.’ I think I would have burned more bridges.”
Luckily, the story turned out to have a happy ending, and now they’re truly enjoying the positive attention the film they created is getting — even if they don’t expect to take home any awards.
“We are the underdogs,” Nanjiani explained. “We are just happy to be here. You know people say, ‘It’s an honor just to be nominated.’ It truly feels like that.”
“We kind of thought that was bull until now,” Gordon said. “Now we get it.”
And who knows? The couple may be back at next year’s Academy Awards, as they’re working on another project together.
“Sometimes it will be pancakes and sometimes it will be scripts,” Gordon said of their relationship.
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