Former Jag Matthew A. Cherry wins Oscar, posts full speech online

Former Jaguars wide receiver turned filmmaker Matthew A. Cherry won an Oscar Sunday for his work on the animated short, “Hair Love.”

The film is about an African American father attempting to do his daughter’s hair for the first time.

Though the acceptance speech was cut short onstage due to time constraints, Cherry posted the transcript of his speech online after winning the Oscar.

"Thank you to the Academy, for this wonderful honor. Thank you to my fellow directors Everett Downing and Bruce Smith, Producers Karen Toliver, Monica Young and Stacey Newton, the amazing team at Sony Animation, our Kickstarter backers and Dove for supporting us. Thank you to my manager Monica Young, my lawyer Vaughn Gill, my agents Andrea Nelson Meigs, Ava Greenfield and Sean Freidlin at ICM. Thank you to my fiance Candace Wilson, my sister Caitlin and my parents Kenneth and Diana Cherry, may they rest in peace.

Hair Love was born out of wanting to see more representation in animation but also wanting to normalize black hair. We have a real chance here to help make heair discrimination illegal through The Crown Act and get it passed as law in all 50 states for the people like our special guest DeAndre Arnold and many more. This award is dedicated to Kobe Bryant. May we all have a 2nd act in life as great as his was. Thank you."

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