‘Hair Love’ Director Matthew A. Cherry Calls For Normalizing Black Hair In Oscars Speech

“Hair Love” director and writer Matthew A. Cherry addressed the importance of normalizing Black hair during his acceptance speech on stage at the 92nd Academy Awards.

The short animated film, which tells the story of a Black father who wears his hair in locs and learns to do his daughter’s hair for the first time, won an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film on Sunday.

Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver, a producer of “Hair Love,” both addressed the importance of representation in cartoons as they accepted the award on stage.

Toliver noted that the “Hair Love” filmmakers are firm believers that “representation matters deeply,” and especially in cartoons, which are often “when we first see our movies.”