Patricia Arquette made a very memorable appearance at last year’s Oscars ceremony, where she used her platform to speak out about the gender wage gap and earned praise from her female peers, including Meryl Streep. But at this year’s awards show–where she presented the award for Best Supporting Actor–Arquette appeared “bored” and uninterested, fueling speculation online that she might have been high.
Arquette read off the nominees in a way that made everyone feel like she had better things to do, then got caught staring off into the distance when the camera came back to her. Viewers quickly took to Twitter to comment on her behavior.
Patricia Arquette went to the Ben Carson School of Public Speaking. #Oscars
— Erica (@SCbchbum) February 29, 2016
apparently patricia arquette saves up literally ALL of her emotions for when she's acting. #oscars
— RAINA (@RahRahRaina) February 29, 2016
Second year in a row where @PattyArquette is high! What a disgrace – not even a proper sentence. #Oscars
— Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) February 29, 2016
Patricia Arquette is making us yawn, too. #Oscars
— USA TODAY Life (@usatodaylife) February 29, 2016
Is Patricia Arquette on Quaaludes or something.
— Jon Benne (@LordBenne) February 29, 2016
Patricia said recently that her speech at last year’s Oscars–which she gave after her win for Boyhood–has since cost her roles, but it’s a small price to pay for having her voice heard.
“Really, before I said it, I knew there was gonna be some drama, ’cause it would cost people money. But there are 33 million women and kids that are living in poverty in America, with a full-time working mom. So, we need to address this and we need to address this right away…There’s been laws and stuff changed! Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson and Governor Brown passed the strongest Fair Pay Act in the country here in California, and that’s really significant, because California’s the 10th largest economy in the world,” Patricia Arquette said.