A number of Hollywood A-listers were spotted sporting a blue ribbon pinned to their attire at Sunday night’s Oscars ceremony (March 13), leaving fans puzzled.
Stars such as 53-year old Best Actress nominee Cate Blanchett and Best Actor nominee Bill Nighy, 73, were two of those to continue the trend, which began at last month’s BAFTA Awards.
That night, Jamie Lee Curtis and Sophie Turner were amongst the stars to display the ribbon – in a show of support for displaced refugees around the world.
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Speaking at the BAFTAs, Jamie Lee admitted: “My friend Cate Blanchett is asking people to remind us all in the midst of all the season of shiny things that of course there are terrible refugee crises going on all over the world everywhere all at once and we need to do our part.”
(Image: Michael TRAN / AFP)
The accessory was created by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and is “emblem of compassion and solidarity” with refugees, displaced people, and those who have been forced to flee their homes because of war, conflict, and persecution.
“The wearing of the blue #WithRefugees ribbon on the red carpet sends a powerful visual message that everyone has the right to seek safety – whoever, wherever, whenever they are,” the UNHCR said in a press release.
According to the organisation, more than 103 million people have been forcibly displaced people around the world, including eight million as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine alone.
(Image: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)
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Tár actress Blanchett, meanwhile, said on the same night: “What I love about film is the way it draws us into compelling human themes to uncover the connective tissue that binds us all.
“Whenever I have met refugees – in places such as Lebanon, Jordan or Bangladesh, here in the UK, or back home in Australia – what has struck me has not been their ‘otherness’ but how many things we share in common.”
And in an interview with Sky News at the Academy Awards, Nighy explained the importance of the ribbon despite organisers’ desire to keep politics out of the event.
“In my view I don’t think 120 million people being displaced and children being in terrible distress is politics,” he said.
“And that’s what this commemorates. It’s a UN initiative and I wear it at the request of Cate Blanchett who wants to focus on that issue wherever we go publicly.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
