Emma Watson Wins MTV's First-Ever Genderless Award; Piers Morgan Wonders 'Do We Need Men and Women?'
Actress Emma Watson won on Sunday night the first-ever gender-neutral MTV TV & Movie acting award for her performance in "Beauty and the Beast," hailing the recognition as a way to show that empathy has "no limits."
"The first acting award ... that doesn't separate nominees based on their sex says something about how we perceive the human experience," Watson said at the awards ceremony in Los Angeles, BBC Newsbeat reported.
"MTV's move to create a genderless award for acting will mean something different to everyone," she continued. "But to me it indicates that acting is about the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes and that doesn't need to be separated into two different categories.
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"Empathy and the ability to use your imagination should have no limits. This is very meaningful to me."
The award was presented by gender-neutral nonbinary actor Asia Kate Dillon, The Guardian pointed out.
"Tonight we celebrate portrayals of the human experience, because the only distinction we should be making when it comes to awards is between each outstanding performance," Dillon said.
Some political and social commentators, such as Piers Morgan, blasted MTV's decision to end the different categories for male and female actors, calling it unnecessary.
"Gender neutral awards — just what the world was craving," Morgan said on Good Morning Britain.
"I can't think of a better recipient than Emma Watson, a great flagbearer to all things gender neutral."
Morgan continued: "Do we need to have men and women?
"Shall we call you woes? Woe is me. You become woes. We can't become men obviously, we become persons.
"And everything becomes gender neutral."
As BBC pointed out, other awards shows have also moved to scrap seperate male and female prizes, such as the Grammy Awards back in 2011.
Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" stirred controversy among some conservative groups, such as the American Family Association, which disapproved of the inclusion of a gay moment toward the end of the movie.
"It is not Disney's place to assume the role of parents deciding when to confront children with alternative lifestyles. I'm not saying that it's wrong for children to know that gays and lesbians exist, only that parents should be the ones to tell them. Disney should not circumvent parents on this matter," wrote Ed Vitagliano, AFA executive vice president, in March.
"It has grave — and perhaps eternal — consequences," he added.
Meanwhile, "Beauty and the Beast" Director Bill Condon said at the MTV awards that the film is a celebration of women's power.
"Thank you to the audience who embraced this movie so much but especially to the women because women are proving that they are a huge and powerful audience and that's going to change the movie business," Condon insisted.
