By LYDIA MARTIN
Former Miami Herald features writer Elinor Burkett interrupts Roger Ross Williams after they won Academy Awards. (AP)
A day after the Oscars, the Internet is blowing up with all sorts of snark directed at former Miami Herald features writer Elinor Burkett.
You know, the loud redhead who pulled a Kanye West, providing the one quirky moment in an otherwise tired telecast. Those who remember Burkett from her Miami days were hardly shocked by her outburst.
There was director Roger Ross Williams, a few words into his acceptance speech after winning Best Documentary Short. Then out of nowhere, Burkett’s butting in: “Isn’t it just like the man to never let the woman talk?”
The woman went on and on, unintelligibly, not letting the man get another word in. Burkett was one of the doc’s producers, but after a falling out over creative control, had been removed from the project, Williams told Salon.com.
Burkett, who after leaving The Herald went on to author several books, including a biography of Golda Meir, told Salon.com that Williams’ 87-year-old mother blocked her with her cane when she got up to follow him to the stage.
Just Elli being Elli, newsroom folks agree. During her time at the paper, 1988-93, she was known for ardently taking up causes in print. AIDS, feminism, Cuba. Demure she wasn’t. One day, she sauntered into the office sporting bright red hair. A few days later it was white. Then hot pink. Then she wrote a story about how strangers and colleagues reacted to her antics.
“She is extremely bright, a gifted writer and an unabashed self-promoter,” said staffer Ellie Brecher, who worked with Burkett in features. “She was often accused of biased reporting, especially on the gay community during the height of the AIDS crisis, and she relished the controversies that Letters to the Editor on her work produced.”
Maybe she’s also digging the Facebook page that just went up, titled: Kanye Got Nothing on Elinor Burkett!
Burkett wasn’t the only person with Miami ties to act out at the Oscars: Ric O’Barry, a Flipper trainer-turned-dolphin activist who appeared in Best Documentary winner The Cove, forced the cameras to cut away from the stage and cut off the acceptance speech when he unfurled a fabric sign that read Text Dolphins to 44144.
