acceptance

CONAKRY, Guinea — It was the middle of the day when Omar Diaw, known by his artist name “Chimere” — French for chimera — approached a blank wall off the main thoroughfare in Guinea’s capital and started spray-painting.

“They know who I am,” he said confidently. Though it wasn’t clear who ”they” were, civilians and police didn’t bat an eye as Diaw’s fellow artists unloaded dozens of paint cans onto the roadside in Conakry.

Graffiti has thrived for years in Diaw’s native Senegal, where the modern urban street art first took off in West Africa. But when he moved to Guinea in 2018 to explore a new place, he said such art was nearly nonexistent.

“It was thought that graffiti was vandalism,” he said.

To win over the public, Diaw took a gentle approach, using graffiti for public awareness campaigns. One of his first was to raise awareness about COVID-19 preventive measures.

“We had to seduce the population,” he said.

The port city of Conakry faces rapid urbanization. Diaw’s graffiti has become an undeniable part of its crowded, concrete-heavy landscape.

His larger-than-life images of famous Guinean musicians and African independence leaders now dwarf the overloaded trucks that drive by. Drying laundry hung over the portrait of the West African resistance fighter Samory Toure.

The tag of Diaw’s graffiti collective, Guinea Ghetto Graff, is on murals all over the city.

Graffiti as it’s known today began in the 1960s and ’70s in the United States. It arrived in West Africa via Dakar, Senegal, in 1988, when the region’s first graffiti artist, Amadou Lamine Ngom, started painting on the city’s walls.

Known by his artist name, “Docta,” Ngom and a group of fellow artists were commissioned the following year to paint murals for an awareness campaign aimed at cleaning up Dakar’s streets.

Ngom, 51, said that at the beginning, aside from such campaigns, he did graffiti mostly at night. He later changed his approach.

“I decided to do it in broad daylight,” he said. “So as not to copy what’s happening in the United States, Europe or elsewhere. To create graffiti that resembles the African reality, taking into account our reality, our values.”

Ngom, who later mentored the teenage Diaw, said communities grew to respect the public artwork since it reflected their lives and experiences.

With the public’s backing, “the authorities didn’t have a choice,” Ngom said.

These days, graffiti has grown more assertive in Senegal, becoming part of the political messaging around antigovernment protests. In Guinea, Diaw’s graffiti has addressed issues such as migration.

Diaw said Conakry’s governor supports much of his work and has given him carte blanche to do it wherever he wants.

As his latest work beside the thoroughfare took shape, passersby began to stop and admire the portrait of Guinea’s military leader, Gen. Mamadi Doumbouya, who took power in a 2021 coup.

A 22-year-old driver, Ousmane Sylla, said he was familiar with Diaw’s gigantic paintings near Conakry’s airport.

“It reminds us of old Guinean musicians. It reminds us of history,” he said. “Graffiti is good for Africa, it’s good for this country, it’s good for everyone. I like it, and it changed the face of our city.”

The next step might be bringing in a wider range of artists.

“I would really like to see more women become a part of this, because they say that [graffiti] is for men,” said Mama Aissata Camara, a rare female artist on Guinea’s graffiti scene.

Risemberg writes for the Associated Press.

It turns out Zoe Saldaña was more than just emotionally drained after tearfully accepting her supporting actress Oscar for “Emilia Pérez” at this year’s Academy Awards — she was also worn out physically.

The 46-year-old actor explained Wednesday on the ABC talk show “Live With Kelly and Mark” how she had been fighting a cold and felt fully exhausted immediately following one of her career-defining moments.

“I collapsed right after. I lost my voice within an hour after I won the award,” she said. “I couldn’t stand on those heels that I had. All I wanted to do was crawl in bed and maybe cry. I don’t know why, I just needed to cry.”

The “Avatar” star noted that up until that point her body was running on all cylinders for months on end during awards season.

“Your body is running on pure adrenaline so you know that your immune system is in optimal condition, but once you tell your body that it’s over, then everything sort of collapses,” Saldaña said.

The Oscar victory capped an impressive awards season run for the “Guardians of the Galaxy” actor, having won the Golden Globe, BAFTA, SAG and Critics’ Choice awards for her role as Mexico City attorney Rita Castro in “Emilia Pérez.”

While her performance was almost universally celebrated and well-regarded, the film as a whole was heavily criticized for its incomplete and offensive portrayals of transgender issues and the lack of consideration taken in depicting Mexico.

LGBTQ+ media advocacy group GLAAD declared the film is “Not Good Trans Representation.” The organization did not nominate “Emilia Pérez” for any GLAAD Media Awards.

Although physically and emotionally exhausted, Saldaña managed to make some attention-grabbing statements in the Oscars press room after a Mexican journalist noted that the movie’s presentation of Mexico was “really hurtful for us Mexicans.”

“First of all, I’m very, very sorry that you and so many Mexicans felt offended,” Saldaña said in the defense of the film. “That was never our intention. We spoke and came from a place of love, and I will stand by that.”

She went on to further disagree with the Mexican journalist’s point of view regarding the centrality and importance of Mexico in the 13-time Oscar nominated movie.

“For me, the heart of this movie was not Mexico. We were making a film about friendship. We were making a film about four women,” Saldaña explained. “And these women are still very universal women that are struggling every day, but trying to survive systemic oppression and trying to find the most authentic voices.”

Outside of the issues within the film, much of the main cast and crew of the movie was bogged down by mostly self-inflicted negative press.

Actor Karla Sofía Gascón faced backlash in January after Canadian writer Sarah Hagi resurfaced tweets dating from 2016 to 2023 that spoke negatively of Muslims’ clothing, language and culture in her home country of Spain. Additionally, Gascón caught heat for resurfaced comments about the 2020 killing of George Floyd, the ensuing racial reckoning, the Black Lives Matter movement and the COVID-19-era Academy Awards ceremony in 2021.

Gascón later apologized for her previous online remarks and deactivated her X account.

The film’s director Jacques Audiard spoke openly on record about how little he prepped to portray Mexico and denigrated the Spanish language during his press tour.

When asked by a Mexican journalist at a red carpet event about how much he had to study up on Mexico and Mexican culture to prepare for the movie, Audiard gave a telling answer.

“No, I didn’t study that much. What I needed to know, I already knew a little about,” the filmmaker said. “It was more about capturing the little details and we came a lot to Mexico to see actors, to see locations, to see the decorations and so on.”

Speaking with the French outlet Konbini, Audiard spoke down on the Spanish language, saying, “Spanish is a language of modest countries, of developing countries, of the poor and migrants.”

Audiard later apologized for his comments after the movie received backlash from Mexican audiences.

Selena Gomez, who played a pivotal supporting role in the film, was criticized for her proficiency in Spanish. Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez was among those who called out Gomez’s performance and Spanish language ability.

Gomez has previously said her Spanish fluency waned after she started working in television at age 7. She responded to the criticism on social media, saying, “I did the best I could with the time I was given. Doesn’t take away from how much work and heart I put into this movie.” Derbez later apologized.

Danny Dyer was overcome with emotion as he accepted the award for Best Male Performance at the 2025 Bafta TV Awards

Danny Dyer left everyone speechless when he nabbed a prestigious Bafta Award on Sunday, May 11, with his typically colourful language adding some spice to the proceedings. Overcome with emotion, yet true to his EastEnders hardman persona, he didn’t hold back on the expletives during his acceptance speech.

The host for the evening, Alan Cumming, wasn’t caught off guard though, he quickly jumped in to apologise to viewers at home for the actor’s fruity on-air antics.

Celebrating his win for Best Male Performance in Sky Comedy’s ‘Mr Bigstuff’, Danny admitted with a cheeky grin: “The acting was so bad it was funny.”

He then set tongues wagging by dropping the F-bomb repeatedly, flouting the Bafta’s language guidelines, despite having faced a warning earlier on.

Despite the few choice words, the former soap star’s message resonated with the audience as he admitted to being “choked up” and sweetly referenced his two daughters during his heartfelt thanks at London’s Royal Festival Hall, reports Belfast Live.

Here, is an insight into Danny Dyer’s notorious speech, his nod to EastEnders, and where he’s heading in his career next.

The full speech

A good chunk of the 47-year-old’s candid speech was edited out due to the risqué content, but his gratefulness couldn’t be clearer from the snippets that survived.

He kicked things off by expressing gratitude to Sky for taking a chance on their show, saying: “I want to thank Sky for giving our show a shot. F***ing hell, I’m choked up.” In particular, he highlighted Ryan Sampson, the writer he holds in high esteem.

Continuing with his thank yous, Danny quipped: “He’s one of the greatest people ever to come out of Rotherham – not saying much. You won this for me mate.”

Danny further heaped praise on Ryan who is also an actor, proclaiming: “One of the best actors this country’s ever produced, I’m telling you. Never done the same thing twice. Which is not something I can say.

“He wrote this part for me, so you know… I’m getting choked up again, f*** me. So you won this for me, mate, I really appreciate it. Thank you so much.”

In an emotional moment, the star of The Rivals expressed his gratitude towards his daughters, Dani, 28, and Sunnie, 18, who were in the audience, beaming with pride as they witnessed their father’s triumph: “Girls, Sunnie and Dani… I’ve done it, girls, I’ve f***ing done it.”

Upon Danny’s departure from the stage, host Alan Cumming stepped in to express apologies for any offence caused by the “naughty language”.

What Danny Dyer said away from the cameras

While backstage and still riding high from his award victory, Danny didn’t hold back during a chat with the Metro newspaper, he giggled: “Oh, there’ll be some people fuming!”, and assertively declared: “I don’t know, man. I’ve earned it. I only want one, I don’t need more than this. I’m happy.”

Reflecting on his previous recognitions and subtly jabbing at his time on EastEnders, he said: “I’ve lifted a couple of NTAs over the years, and I always like to win awards and lose them, do the moody clap [pretending] that you’re happy for someone else… I’ve done all that b******s, and I thought I’d be doing that tonight.”

Reflecting on his recent triumphs with both Mr Bigstuff and Rivals, he shared: “I’ve had a really good run this year. Rivals has been so well received. A bit odd, really. I’ve got Rivals sitting there, and I’ve got Mr Bigstuff there.”

On to big things

Fans are in for a treat as the critically acclaimed Mr Bigstuff makes its comeback with Danny at the helm in Sky Comedy’s spotlight, gearing up for its much-anticipated second season.

While we’re all on tenterhooks for the release date of series two on Sky and Now, the network has teased that the premiere is slated for “later in 2025”, with Danny set to dazzle audiences once again as the brash brother Lee.

Disney + Rivals fans will be ecstatic to hear that Danny is set to return to the role of businessman Freddie Jones once more, a role that snagged him the British Press Guild Award for Best Actor and the RTS Television Award for Supporting Actor.

The exact timing for the return of series two remains shrouded in mystery, with some media outlets speculating “later in 2025” or “early 2026”. Yet, an insider on ITV’s Lorraine hinted at a much sooner date, suggesting “July 2025”.

Chatting with Andi Peters, who was filling in on ITV’s Lorraine on Monday, May 12, Ria Hebden let slip: “Rivals, we now know it’ll back on screens this July.”

Rivals will return to Disney + at some time in the near future and Mr Bigstuff will return to Sky and Now, also at a near point in 2025.