She added that her family accepted that the movie was an entertaining fiction. Karole was also cast doubt on Vallelonga's son, screenwriter Nick Vallelonga's claims that he had not known of her or her parents and any of the multiple other surviving relatives' existence. That will be the benchmark of his career.' 'Oscars aside I think he has sealed his fate with the lies he has told, the corners he has cut.
Karole went on, 'For him to take a jab like that when they have never got in touch, never apologized….This man lacks character and honor. 'So when they say something is a shame that's saying something.' 'They both grew up coming out of Jim Crow and went through that awful time and fight for civil rights. Both he and my mother said that for the movie to win was a 'shame.'' She said, 'He is wearied by the whole thing. Karole said that her father went to bed rather than watching the ceremony and that as she did her first concern was how he would feel this morning when he woke to learn about Farrelly's remarks.
#Bump of chicken ray piano driver#
Last month exclusively revealed how Shirley's own family dismissed the movie as a 'culturally tone deaf… symphony of lies.'Īccording to Dr Shirley's surviving brother, Maurice, 82, and his wife Patricia, 79, there was no friendship between the pianist and his overtly racist driver Tony 'Lip' Vallelonga. The movie billed as a heartwarming tale of the unlikely friendship between the black pianist and his Italian American driver, garnered three awards including the coveted Best Picture as well as Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali and Best Original Screenplay.īut it has been increasingly mired in controversy with allegations of stereotyping black characters and riding roughshod over Shirley's surviving family and the truth.
Shirley's family doesn't believe that any attempt was made to find or contact them, nor do they believe writer Nick Vallelonga's assertion that he and his father visited Shirley before his death in 2013 and were granted permission to tell the story. Pictured: Shirley plays the piano in an artist's studio above Carnegie Hall, New York, 1960