ANOHNI formerly know as Antony walks away boldly from the Oscars when rejected from performing ihis Oscar Nominated song Manta Ray" (J. Ralph & Anohni) ANOHNI refusing to play the Oscar game!... BRAVA ANTONI

ANOHNI  
(ANOHNI is the chosen name for the artist formerly known as Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnson's. ANOHNI no longer uses any other name and is now a solo artist ) Anohni has issued a heart full explanation of why v is not attending the Academy Awards tonight. Although this beautiful song, Manta Ray was nominated for BEST SONG the producers chose to not have it performed by Anohni   I was glad when I learned v creative work was being honored by this nomination in the same way I was when Jaye Davidson  was nominated for Best Supporting actor for v work in the Crying Game.  When I read Anohni's statement issued yesterday where he states why v could not board the plane to attend the awards show I wept in resonance with his reasons . I remember first meeting Anohni in the downstairs dressing room of the Pyramid  when he was performing in Blacklips his tribute company to british gender-free performance group Bluelips. I remember when v lived in an SRO on 15th street, worked at a copy shop and sang at fashion shows and was scorned by the gay male, disco and indie rock audience etc. I remember when v turned down a low paying Chris Blackwell ( Island records) exclusive contract  and proceed to self fund his first album. I remember when David Tibet of Current 93  heard the album and offered to release it  on his DURTO  imprint. I remember when Antony And the Johnsons began performing as a group and Julia Kent and Thomas Dove/Bartlett were a part of the ensemble. I remember introing him to Rosemary Carroll the only lawyer of merit I knew in the music business I thought would get v unique talent and independent drive , I remember when everything changed for Anohni when v won the prestigious British  MERCURY PRIZE I remember when v choose to sign with Secretly Canadian,  a small indie record label in Canada that had a relationship with Geoff Travis' ROUGH TRADE ( who had released the David Russell “World of Echo” ) I remember when Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson presented Anohni as the artist they were mentoring at a celebration at the Rubin Museum  . I remember the collaborations with Charles Atlas the video artist,  I remember as the art  world and discerning music lovers discoverd Antony and the Johnson. I remember when Anohni met Marina Abramovic .. souls sisters in imagination .I was not surprised by v name change and I respect it. I remember thinking "To thine own self be true". I was not surprised as just prior to the Climate Change Conference in Paris Antoni released  a protest song about Climate Change Antoni sings 4 DEGREES I watched as my secret became the world’s secret. But this wasn't enough for the producers of the Oscar show. They chose to not have Antoni sing his Oscar nominated song.

Antoni issued this statement ...and I wept as it resonated with me the truth of the engaged artist in the world today .

WHY I AM NOT ATTENDING THE ACADEMY AWARDS

by Anohni, Oscar Nominee for best song (“Manta Ray” with composer J. Ralph)

I am the only transgendered performer ever to have been nominated for an Academy Award, and for that I thank the artists who nominated me. (There was a trans songwriter nominee named Angela Morley in the early 70’s who did some great work behind the scenes.) I was in Asia when I found out the news. I rushed home to prepare something, in case the music nominees would be asked to perform. Everyone was calling with excited congratulations. A week later, Sam Smith, Lady Gaga and the Weeknd were rolled out as the evening’s entertainment with more performers “soon to be announced”. Confused, I sat and waited. Would someone be in touch? But as time bore on I heard nothing. I was besieged with people asking me if I was going to perform.

My anxiety increased as weeks passed. I slowly realized that the positive implication of this nomination was being retracted. The producers seemed to have decided to stage performances only by the singers who were deemed commercially viable. Composer David Lang’s song “Simple Song #3” performed by South Korean soprano Sumi Jo was also omitted.

It was degrading to watch the articles in Variety, The Daily Telegraph, Pitchfork, Stereogum, etc. start to appear. Eclipsing earlier notices of congratulations, now the papers were naming me as one of two artists to have been “cut” by the Academy due to “time constraints”. In the next sentence it was announced that Dave Grohl, not nominated in any category, had been added to the list of performers.

Everyone told me that I still ought to attend, that a walk down the red carpet would still be “good for my career”.

Last night I tried to force myself to get on the plane to fly to LA for all the nominee events, but the feelings of embarrassment and anger knocked me back, and I couldn’t get on the plane. I imagined how it would feel for me to sit amongst all those Hollywood stars, some of the brave ones approaching me with sad faces and condolences. There I was, feeling a sting of shame that reminded me of America’s earliest affirmations of my inadequacy as a transperson. I turned around at the airport and went back home.

As if to rub salt into the wound, the next morning the Oscars added that I was transgendered to the trivia page of their website.

I want to be clear — I know that I wasn’t excluded from the performance directly because I am transgendered. I was not invited to perform because I am relatively unknown in the U.S., singing a song about ecocide, and that might not sell advertising space. It is not me that is picking the performers for the night, and I know that I don't have an automatic right to be asked.

But if you trace the trail of breadcrumbs, the deeper truth of it is impossible to ignore. Like global warming, it is not one isolated event, but a series of events that occur over years to create a system that has sought to undermine me, at first as a feminine child, and later as an androgynous transwoman. It is a system of social oppression and diminished opportunities for transpeople that has been employed by capitalism in the US to crush our dreams and our collective spirit.

I was told during my 20s and 30s there was no chance that someone like me could have a career in music, and this perspective was reiterated by so many industry “professionals” and media outlets that I lost count. I almost gave up. Thankfully, fellow artists like Lou Reed advocated for me so intensely that I got a foothold despite the worst intentions of others. In that sense, I am one of the luckiest people in the world.

I enjoy that wild and reckless exhilaration that comes from naming my truth as best as I can; it is what Nina Simone might have called a “boon”. The truth is that I was not groomed for stardom and watered down for your enjoyment. As a transgendered artist, I have always occupied a place outside of the mainstream. I have gladly paid a price for speaking my truth in the face of loathing and idiocy.

At the age of 35 I was awarded the UK’s Mercury Prize. All the nominees were invited to perform that night. They lifted me from obscurity and celebrated me, setting off a chain of events that changed my life forever.

Now ten years later, I have sung for millions of people in some of the most beautiful theaters in the world, from the Royal Opera House in London to a tiny shed full of Aboriginal women elders in the Western Australian desert. I have accomplished so many of my dreams. I have collaborated with musicians and artists whom I deeply respect. I have held space for feminism, eco-consciousness, and trans advocacy for 2 decades. I have been afforded a platform to participate in the cultural conversation.

I brought my earnings from around the world home to New York City and paid my taxes. That money was spent by the U.S. government on Guantanamo Bay, drone bombs, surveillance, capital punishment, prisons for whistleblowers, corporate subsidies and bank bailouts.

In the United States it is all about money: those who have it and those who don’t. Identity politics are often used as a smokescreen to distract us from this viral culture of wealth extraction. When we are not extracting wealth from nature, we are extracting it from the working and middle classes.

So I have decided not to attend the Academy Awards this election year. I will not be lulled into submission with a few more well manufactured, feel-good ballads and a bit of good old fashioned T. and A. They are going to try to convince us that they have our best interests at heart by waving flags for identity politics and fake moral issues. But don't forget that many of these celebrities are the trophies of billionaire corporations whose only intention it is to manipulate you into giving them your consent and the last of your money. They have been paid to do a little tap dance to occupy you while Rome burns. These are the last days of a great American fake-out sponsored by Exxon Mobile, Walmart, Amazon, Google and Phillip Morris. America, a country that is no longer contained by physical borders, aspires only for more power and control. I want to maximize my usefulness and advocate for the preservation of biodiversity and the pursuit of human decency within my sphere of influence.

Charles Atlas " You Are My Sister"

Antoni now identifies v gender expression as androgynous transwoman. Out of respect for his self-authorship I am using gender neutral pronouns as defined by the artist and trans role model Justin Vivian Bond in my writing. I have been doing this for the last two years. Not in conversation I use either the chosen proper name of the individual or their pronoun of choice

V or v = him, her, his, hers, them, those
Vx = Mr, Mrs, Ms, Miss