OSCARS 2011: The Fighter’s Melissa Leo apologises for F-word in acceptance speech

By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 7:58 AM on 28th February 2011

Melissa Leo has apologised for swearing during her acceptance speech at the Academy Award tonight.

She won best supporting actress for The Fighter, a movie that propelled the 50-year-old actress into the mainstream for the first time in her career.

Leo seemed overwhelmed when she stepped up to receive her Oscar and let a ‘F-word’ slip out on the movie industry’s biggest night.

She got the only ‘bleep’ of the awards show telecast as she said: ‘When I watched Kate [Winslet win the same award] two years ago, it looked so f—ing easy!’

Slip up: Melissa Leo dropped the F-word as she accepted her Academy Award for best supporting actress tonight

‘Will you pinch me?’ she asked presenter Kirk Douglas.

‘Oh my god! Oh wow!. Really, really, really truly wow. I know there
have been a lot of people saying some real, real nice things to me for
several months now. But I am just shaking in my boots here,’ she said.

She later said sorry backstage for using the expletive – a rare
incident at the live ceremony for the movie industry’s highest honours.

‘I apologise to anyone they offend. There is a great deal of the
English language that is in my vernacular. I did not mean to offend, and [it was] a very inappropriate place to use that particular word,’ Leo
told journalists.

Apology: Melissa, with fellow winners Christian Bale, Natalie Portman and Colin Firth, said sorry backstage for using the expletive

Leo was considered a favourite for the prize, but faced strong competition from both co-star Amy Adams and Helena Bonham-Carter for The King’s Speech. All played real-life characters.

Leo starred in The Fighter as Alice Ward, the feisty mother of two New England boxing heroes played by Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale, who picked up the best supporting actor award later in the show.

While her characterization of the brassy matriarch was not exactly sympathetic, Leo has gone out of her way during awards season to paint Ward as an unsung heroine with a good heart.

Award winning role: Melissa Leo, pictured here with Christian Bale, played matriarch Alice Ward in The Fighter

Leo was nominated for an Oscar two years ago for her lead role in Frozen River, an arthouse drama that grossed just $2.5 million at the North American box office.

The Fighter, by contrast, has earned about $88 million to date.

Leo thanked the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who had voted for her, adding that the Oscars are about ‘selling motion pictures and respecting the work.’

The other supporting actress nominees were Hailee Steinfeld for True Grit and Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom.