Although Teyana Taylor didn’t win at the 2026 Oscars, she was still a major topic of conversation from the big show thanks to her behavior at the prestigious event. But after seeing some of the discourse about her, it begs the question: was she really “doing too much,” or are the criticisms about her unwarranted? Don’t worry, we’ll explain.
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While Taylor lost the Best Supporting Actress category early in the show on Sunday, her response was somehow still nitpicked. In particular, when winner Amy Madigan’s name was called, Taylor immediately jumped out of her seat to give her a standing ovation.
Later, when her film “One Battle After Another” was announced as the winner for Best Picture, Taylor and director Paul Thomas Anderson headed up to the stage together. While doing so, the “Hard Part” singer could be seen in now-viral footage jumping all over Anderson, putting him in a playful headlock, and slightly stumbling as they walked up.
Sadly, while the moment was supposed to be joyful, it instead turned into a prime complaining point for Black viewers watching it with many using it to call out Taylor for her behaviour.
However, all these comments point to a bigger issue that we should be interrogating here and that’s the why behind how Taylor should’ve been acting at the Oscars. Yes, we all know there’s proper protocol and certain etiquette and decorum expected for different occasions. You wouldn’t act the same way you do at a club while at church or at a funeral. You wouldn’t behave in the courtroom in front of a judge the same way you would with your cousins at the family cookout.
The same logic can also be applied to the Oscars. Seeing as how it’s Hollywood’s biggest night and its most elegant award show, the rules of engagement and expectations on how to behave in the room are a bit heavier. And they should be, given the occasion. And that’s exactly why some people were quick to call out Taylor’s behavior, labeling it as her “doing too much” or “doing the most” when you’re supposed to be more refined in that room.
“WTF going on with Teyana? This is like the 3rd video in a row I’ve seen of her wildin at the Oscar’s,” wrote one user on X/Twitter.
“Teyana Taylor was annoying me…jumping up and down, almost causing that man to fall, and gabbing the Oscar like she won it for her category. He cast mates were looking like, ‘Calm down gurl,’” one other user wrote.
Added another: “Teyana clown-ass Taylor acting like she’s happy for another woman..Girl bye, this is an act and we can see it.”
Whether or not the support was an act, there is something to be said about making sure you’re represented properly in certain rooms. We’ve all had to switch up depending on the environment we’re in and present ourselves differently. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that.
However, given some of the discourse, it feels a bit like Taylor may be being subjected to scrutiny a bit unfairly. Why? Because it feels like an attempt to try to police her personality and all because she’s not acting the “right way” or being “too Black” in a predominately white space.
Prior to the Oscars night, Taylor had been applauded for always showing up as her authentic self no matter what room she was in. When she won her Golden Globe in fall 2026, she was her usual self, even cracked a joke and carried on with giving her emotional acceptance speech. Fast forward to the Oscars though, and now she’s “doing too much?” Because she was genuinely happy for her peers and her director? She later told Variety that she had already given PTA (Paul Thomas Anderson) a warning that she’d be extra excited and that he might need to get “a helmet” should he take home the win because her love of sports and celebration was going to cause her to go hard. So he knew it was coming, to a degree.
Let’s be real: had her costar Leonardo DiCaprio done the same thing to PTA, they would’ve turned into another famous meme. But because Taylor—a Black woman expressing genuine excitement and acting like herself—did it, it wreaks of a lack of decorum and “shucking and jiving?” What kinds of ways are we seeing ourselves if our authenticity gets reduced to that? And what kind of unfair burden are we putting on ourselves to behave and represent ourselves in a certain way when we’re around a whole bunch of white folks?
Until we can honestly answer those questions and get to the root of where that discomfort and disapproval comes from, it may be worth letting Taylor just do her while we figure our own issues out. Because clearly, it’s more problematic than she is.
And while Taylor has spoken out in defense of herself in a post to her official X/Twitter account, others also came to her defense with one user saying on X/Twitter: “People really watched Teyana Taylor enjoy herself all throughout award season and decided that was embarrassing. I’m sorry she didn’t sit there looking miserable.”
“The real issue people are having with Teyana Taylor is that they expected her to be upset, act out, have an attitude because she lost the best actress award. They can’t take the fact that a black woman was still able to celebrate through her loss and then her win,” said another.
Added another person: “Teyana was doing nothing, but being herself last night. Yall love authenticity as long as it’s clean and proper. Let it be raw and real, you start shaking in your boots!”
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