"Lady Kanye": Journalist Interrupts Director's Oscar Speech (Updated)

She’s already being called the white lady Kanye for running up onstage and interrupting Roger Ross Williams. Turns out she is Elinor Burkett, journalist and co-producer of the winning film, Music By Prudence. (On Monday, Williams appeared on Larry King.)

Here’s the transcript of the entire bizarre affair, provided by ABC:

Roger Ross Williams: Oh my god. This is amazing. Two years ago when I got on an airplane and went to Zimbabwe, I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I’d end up here. This is so exciting. This is so exciting. So exciting.

Elinor Burkett: …Let the woman talk. Isn’t that the classic thing? In a world in which most of us are told and tell ourselves that we can’t. Liyana, the band behind this film, teaches us that we’re wrong. Against all odds they did, so we can. So the bottom line is, to me, my role models and my heroes, Marvelous and Energy, Tapiwa, Goodwell, the whole rest of the band and especially Prudence.

Roger Ross Williams: And Prudence who is here. Who is back there. Prudence is here tonight. This is for Prudence.

Who is Burkett? She’s a journalist and author who apparently splits her time between the Catskills and Zimbabwe. She’s Her bio is no longer listed on the credits on the film’s web site, and the director told Salon, “She actually removed herself from the project.” Here’s some inside detail from former New York Times reporter Jennifer 8. Lee:

Update:: Salon‘s Kerry Lauerman got both Williams and Burkett on the phone for the whole story on their beef. Highlights: Burkett claiming Williams had never even heard of Zimbabwe before she told him about it and claiming his mother blocked her ascent to the Oscar stage with her cane; Williams conceding, “She pulled a Kanye.”

Update 2: Roger Ross Williams appeared on Larry King Live on Monday to discuss the incident and recite his Oscar speech in full.