The CROWN Act would ban discrimination against people based on their hair. “We think his hair is beautiful and this is the least we could do to support him and show him love,” Cherry added. And we love that he didn’t bend to the pressure to cut it.” “Deandre is such a good kid, and he shouldn’t be punished for his hair. “It’s truly an honor to have the platform to be able to invite Deandre and his family as our guest to the Oscars next Sunday,” Cherry told CNN after extending the invitation. There’s a very important issue that’s out there, the CROWN Act, and if we can’t help to get this passed in all 50 states it will help stories like DeAndre Arnold’s who’s our special guest tonight.”Īrnold, a senior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas, and his mother, Sandy, were invited to attend the Oscars as the guests of Cherry and Rupert Toliver. “Hair Love was done because we wanted to see more representation in animation,” Cherry said during his acceptance speech. The story of a dad struggling to do his daughter’s hair not only charmed those who saw it, but resulted in a children’s book and plenty of conversations about the importance of hair and heritage in the black community. On Sunday, Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver accepted the Academy Award for best animated short film for the project. It was videos of black fathers lovingly styling their daughters’ hair that inspired Matthew Cherry to launch a Kickstarter campaign in 2017 fund the short film, “Hair Love.”

Hair love matthew a cherry