Ukraine slams decision to reject Zelenskyy’s Oscars speech request

By Zehra Nur Duz

ANKARA (AA) - Ukrainian foreign minister “sharply” criticized Saturday the decision to reject President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s request to speak at the Oscars ceremony, according to local media.

“The decision not to invite Zelenskyy to deliver a speech during the Oscars ceremony, where one of the leading Best Foreign Language Film nominees is an anti-war Picture, is highly hypocritical,” Dmytro Kuleba said in an interview with Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper, state news agency Ukrinform reported.

“I think if ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ receives an Oscar as the Best Foreign Language Film, while Zelenskyy, who is in the war, leading the country, fighting in the biggest war in Europe since World War II, is not allowed to speak at the Oscars ceremony, you will not find a better example of the hypocrisy of the film industry’s top executives and producers,” Ukrinform quoted Kuleba as saying.

For the second time, the Academy Awards has declined to offer the floor to the Ukrainian leader.