Patricia Arquette upset Oscars left her trans sister out of In Memoriam tribute

Alexis Arquette, who had over 70 acting credits, died last September.

ByABC News
February 27, 2017, 11:16 AM

— -- Patricia Arquette was less than pleased with the In Memoriam tribute at Sunday's Oscars as it did not include her sister Alexis Arquette, a trans activist and actor with more than 70 screen credits.

"I was really pissed off the academy left out my sister Alexis in the memoriam, because Alexis had a great body of work, but Alexis was one of very few trans artists that worked in the business," she told ABC News.

"At a time when we have trans kids that can't even go to the bathroom at school, you would think the academy would have a little bit more respect for a group of people that are murdered, and trans women of color are most likely to live in extreme poverty, making $800 a month, so I think the Oscars have a lot of learning to do."

The academy has not yet responded to ABC News' request for comment.

Alexis died in September at age 47. A member of the famous acting family, she was born Robert Arquette and began acting at age 12. She starred in a number of films, including "Of Mice and Men," "Bride of Chucky" and "The Wedding Singer," before documenting her gender transition in the 2007 film "Alexis Arquette: She's My Brother."

Patricia Arquette was not the only one upset by Sunday night's tribute, which honors people in the film industry who have died since the last Oscars. Australian producer Jan Chapman told Variety that her photo was mistakenly identified as that of Janet Patterson, an Australian costume designer and four-time Oscar nominee who died in October.

"I was devastated by the use of my image in place of my great friend and longtime collaborator Janet Patterson," she wrote in an email to the magazine.

This is not the first time the In Memoriam segment has been a source of controversy. In 2015, many were upset when Joan Rivers was left out of the video tribute. This year, Garry Shandling, Robert Vaughn and Florence Henderson were excluded. Bill Paxton, who died the day before the Oscars, was mentioned by Jennifer Aniston, who introduced the segment, but was not included in the video.

Sara Bareilles, a Grammy- and Emmy-nominated singer-songwriter, performed Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" as the video tribute played.

Those honored included Bill Nunn, George Kennedy, Gene Wilder, Patty Duke, Garry Marshall, Anton Yelchin, Mary Tyler Moore, Prince, John Hurt, Nancy Reagan, Curtis Hanson, Debbie Reynolds and her daughter, Carrie Fisher, who died a day apart from each other. The tribute ended with Fisher in her most famous role, as Princess Leia, saying, "May the Force be with you."

Shortly after Bareilles’ performance, the academy posted a photo gallery of more than 200 recently deceased Hollywood professionals on Oscars.com.

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