Rich Middlemas, TJ Martin and Dan Lindsay accepting the Oscars. (GARY HERSHORN - REUTERS)
“Undefeated” was a surprise Academy Award winner tonight for best documentary. Such a surprise, in fact, that one of the elated co-directors accidently said the f-word during his acceptance speech, making him the second Oscar victory in history to drop that bomb during the live telecast.
As soon as the ”Undefeated” winners got backstage in the press room, the first question they faced pertained to that obscenity utterance.
“First and foremost I’d like to apologize for that,” said TJ Martin, the man responsible for the accidental curse word. (The specific phrase used: “[bleeping] amazing.”)
“That was not the classiest thing in the world,” he added. “However, it did come from the heart.”
Afterward the other director, Daniel Lindsay, noted that they really wanted to dedicate their award to the people of West Memphis, where the high school football documentary was set. Their speech was cut for time before they were able to do that.
Of course, another member of the press had a follow-up, asking whether Martin intended to one-up Melissa Leo, the woman responsible for what was (until now) the singular Oscar f-bomb performance.
“There was no one-upping,” Martin said. “When I say it came from the heart, it was completely spontaneous and accidental.”
And with that, the men responsible for winning an Oscar for a moving documentary about sports, economic struggle and race became those dudes who said a bad word at the Academy Awards.
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Oscars 2012: ‘Undefeated’ winners apologize for dropping f-bomb