PopUps: Update: Sam Smith is Still Off Twitter
Not long after he took home an Oscar for Best Original Song earlier this year, pop star Sam Smith announced he was taking a break from social media following a spat with Dustin Lance Black. The out screenwriter took issue with Smith's acceptance speech where the singer suggested he was the first openly gay man to win an Oscar.
The men's heated Twitter exchange dominated headlines and got a bit nasty when Black told Smith to "stop texting my fianc�," British Olympic diver Tom Daley. In the midst of their e-argument (Smith and Black have since apologized to each other), Smith was slammed again for comments he made backstage at the 88th Academy Awards. After his acceptance speech, it was explained to him that Howard Ashman, who won two Oscars for Best Original Song in 1989 and in 1991, was out at the time of his win.
"I should know him," Smith said, according to the Associated Press. "We should date."
Ashman died in 1991 from AIDS complications.
Smith, who told Vanity Fair his Oscars performance was "the worst moment of his life," took to Twitter on March 1 to proclaim that he was "logging off" social media "for a while." The "Latch" singer has made good on his word as he has not tweeted or posted on Instagram in three months.
Nevertheless, he's still been out and about in the real world. As People magazine notes, Smith recently visited Boston with his family and posted for selfies with fans.