Following Chris Rock's opening monologue which addressed the #OscarsSoWhite controversy head on, the audience was left in a state of awkward silence when the host introduced Stacey Dash as the "new director of our minority outreach programme".
Best known for playing Cher’s sidekick Dionne in the cult 1995 film Clueless, Dash is now most associated with appearing as a contributor on Fox News.
Most recently she criticised those speaking out about and boycotting the Academy Awards over the lack of diversity in this year’s nominations, calling the furore “ludicrous”. She then received backlash on social media for also voicing her disagreement of having a Black History Month and the BET channel.
Therefore, the audience was left confused when a giggling Dash walked out and wished the audience a "happy Black History month".
The awkwardness was evident by the reaction of The Weeknd and Chrissy Teigen:
Viewers at home were equally confused:
Immediately after appearing at the ceremony, Dash shared a blog post she'd written which asked: 'Who is Stacey Dash and why did she just walk across the Oscar stage?'
