Here’s The Story Behind That Golden Globes Cry-Meme

John Legend's wife was bawling her eyes out not only because her husband just won an award, but Common said something pretty important and hopeful about race...

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by Sophie Wilkinson |
Published on

Chrissy Teigen wasn't a household name until today, when her so-brilliant-it's-awful-then-brilliant-again cry face became a meme. Here it is for you to behold:

The model, who is also John Legend's wife, later tweeted to say:

But why was she crying? She wasn't only watching her husband collect an award for Best Original Song, Glory, from the film Selma. She was also crying at John's collaborator, Common, who had just given a pretty incredible speech.

See, Selma is a film about the civil rights movement, and the film came out at a time when racial inequality is still incredibly existent in America and beyond (that's 2014, not 1964, by the way). Tina Fey and Amy Poehler joked about its relevance in their opening speech: 'The movie Selma is about the American civil rights movement that totally worked and now everything's fine'.

Of course with protests across America last year after the shooting of unarmed teen Michael Brown, (and so many other cases where unarmed black people have been killed by police) it's not, but Common showed how much hope there can be:

If you can't watch right now, this is what he says: 'I am the hopeful black woman who was denied her right to vote. I am the caring white supporter killed on the frontlines of freedom.'

'I am the unarmed black kid who maybe needed a hand, but was instead given a bullet. I am the two fallen police officers murdered in the line of duty.'

'Selma has awakened by humanity… we look to the future and we wanna create a better world, now is our time to create a better world. Selma is now.'

And that's why Chrissy – and Oprah, who helped out on the movie, were crying. Much more than a meme, right?

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Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson

This article originally appeared on The Debrief.

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