Michelle Yeoh takes aim at CNN’s Don Lemon with Oscars acceptance speech

‘Ladies, don’t ever let anyone tell you you are ever past your prime,’ Yeoh said

Michelle Yeoh took an apparent dig at CNN’s Don Lemon during her Best Actress acceptance speech at the Oscars on Sunday (12 March).

The 60-year-old actor, who won the prestigious award for her leading role as Evelyn Quan Wang in Everything Everywhere All At Once, seemingly threw shade at Lemon for his comments about Nikki Haley’s age last month.

During her speech, Yeoh said: “For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities.

Catch up with the Oscars as it happened here.

“This is proof that dreams, dream big, and dreams do come true,” she said. “And ladies, don’t ever let anyone tell you you are ever past your prime. Never give up!”

Lemon angered the public in February by saying that Haley, who announced her presidential campaign, should not be critical of politicians’ ages because of her own age.

“This whole talk about age makes me uncomfortable. I think it’s the wrong road to go down. She says people, you know, politicians or something are not in their prime,” Lemon said. “Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime, sorry. A woman is considered to be in their prime in 20s and 30s and maybe 40s.”

After a pushback from his co-host Poppy Harlow, Lemon said in a statement that he regretted his “inartful and irrelevant” comments, which many deemed “sexist” and “misogynistic”.

He later issued a second apology, saying: “To my network, my colleagues and our incredible audience – I’m sorry. I’ve heard you, I’m learning from you, and I’m committed to doing better. See you soon.”

Many people on Twitter are commending Yeoh for speaking out against Lemon’s remarks.

“Nice sly dig at Don Lemon’s ‘past your prime’ line, #MichelleYeoh!!!” journalist Robert A Georg wrote.

Journalist Megan Murphy added: “Lololol @donlemon just got his ass handed to him to by Michelle Yeoh. So deserved. Lol.”

Yeoh dedicated her Oscar award to her mother, and “all the mums in the world”, calling them the “real superheroes”.

“Without them, none of us would be here tonight,” she said. “She’s 84 and I’m taking this home to her.”

Everything Everywhere All At Once was the biggest winner of the night with co-directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert winning the Best Director award. The movie also won Best Film Editing and Best Screenplay.

Yeoh’s co-stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan won Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor, respectively.

You can find the list of winners at the 2023 Oscars in full here.