Billie Eilish Was The Only Out Nominee That Won At The 2024 Oscars

Eilish and her brother Finneas won Best Original Song for “What Was I Made For?” at the 2024 Academy Awards on Sunday night…

Singer Billie Eilish was the only out performer to take home at the star-studded 96th annual Academy Awards on Sunday nigh in Los Angeles. Eilish and her brother/songwriting partner Finneas won Best Original Song for “What Was I Made For?” from the Barbie movie, beating out tracks performed by Becky G, Jon Batiste, Osage Tribal Singers, and Ryan Gosling.

Eilish’s win at the 2024 Oscars also makes the 22-year-old the youngest person ever to win two Oscars, according to Variety.

LGBTQ+ Academy Award nominees were few and far between this year, and Eilish was the only out performer to take home a statue from the ceremony. Eilish initially came out in a November Variety profile, which led to some confusion. In her profile, Eilish stated, “I’m physically attracted to [women]. But I’m also so intimidated by them and their beauty and their presence.”

After the profile was released, Eilish was interviewed on the red carpet for the Variety Hitmakers Brunch and was asked about her “coming out” story in her November Variety profile and the confusion surrounding it. The singer claimed that she hadn’t realized fans didn’t know she identified as queer, saying it was “obvious.”

“I didn’t [know I was coming out], but I kinda thought, wasn’t it obvious?” she said of the anecdote. “I didn’t realize people didn’t know.”

“I’m still scared of [women], but I think they’re pretty,” she joked. “I saw the article, and I was like, ‘Oh, I guess I came out today!’ I just don’t really believe in [coming out]. I’m just like, why can’t we just exist? I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I just didn’t talk about it.”

She added, “It’s exciting to me because I guess people didn’t know, so it’s cool that they know…I am for the girls.”

Before the ceremony there was a ton of hope that the 2024 Oscars could potentially be the most queer- and trans-inclusive ceremony thanks to the diverse range of queer characters portrayed on the big screen. Aside from Eilish, other out performers who were nominated included Jodi Foster, Colman Domingo, Lily Gladstone (who uses she/they pronouns), and queer composer Laura Karpman.