A comedian said he felt let down by Will Smith’s Oscars attack after it overshadowed the three awards won by Coda.
The movie tells the story of a teenage girl who is the only hearing member of a deaf family and it should have been the big story of last week’s awards night.
But Best Actor Smith took all the headlines when he slapped host Chris Rock hard for making a jibe about his wife Jada’s alopecia.
Ray Bradshaw is the son of deaf parents, David, 69, and Jill, 66, and the first comedian to stage a professional show in both English and sign language.
He said: “Coda stands for ‘Child of deaf adults’. It’s not a word I knew growing up but my brother and sister and I – who can all hear – grew up as the children of deaf adults.
“At home, Mum would talk to us and Dad would sign. To this day, we do a sort of hybrid mix when we’re chatting.
“Coda is a great film that is inclusive, representative and makes me very proud to be a Coda myself.
“The fact it’s won three Oscars should mean people will seek it out to watch.
“But the sad thing is that all the Will Smith and Chris Rock nonsense has totally overshadowed Coda winning Best Picture and Troy Kotsur becoming the first deaf man to win an Oscar [for Best Supporting Actor].”
Glaswegian Ray, who is on tour supporting John Bishop, watched the film six weeks ago.
He said: “It was John’s idea. We were on the tour bus, on the way from Hull to Aberdeen.
“John is learning sign language… so we watched it together. It was great to see a family on screen that were similar to mine.”
Ray grew up signing and talking, which made his experience far from the norm.
Ray, 33, said: “I remember being in the playground as a young boy, signing to people but they didn’t know what I was saying. I remember thinking ‘They’re so stupid. How do they not know that?’
“Doing stand-up, talking in front of thousands of people, it doesn’t faze me at all. I’m just having another conversation.”
Ray, who is now teaching his two-year-old son Alex to sign, has toured with Frankie Boyle and has worked relentlessly to hone his act.
He said: “It’s so hard with a deaf and hearing audience to hit the punchline at the same time. Some jokes don’t work in sign – word play and puns don’t exist in sign language.
“If I swore as a kid while signing, my parents would take me into the kitchen and wash my hands with soap.”
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here .
