French Actress Ditches 'Blood'-Stained Dress & Donkey Suit, Gets Naked Protesting Cultural Shutdown

French actress Corinne Masiero dropped some jaws on Friday during the César Awards when she emerged completely naked on stage in support of national artists and cultural workers who have been impacted by the government’s response to the pandemic.

Masiero, who was presenting the award for best costumes, has already raised some eyebrows when she appeared on stage in a donkey costume – apparently in reference to Catherine Denueve’s character in ‘Donkey Skin’ – and then ditched it to turn up in nothing but a dress stained with fake blood.

“I have a last costume and after that’s there’s nothing more,” the 57-year-old actress warned before she let the dress go and got stark-naked in front of an audience of flabbergasted French celebs.

“This one is ‘Who Wants The Skin Of Roger L’Intermittant’,” Masiero said, playing with the title of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” by combining it with the nickname locally used to describe art workers.

“Because now we are like this, completely naked.”

Her torso was inscribed with the words “No culture, no future", while the one on her back stated “Give us back art, Jean” in a purported appeal to French Prime Minister Jean Castex.

The actress, who is known for her role as Capitaine Marleau, has expressed doubt that she would be invited to the next year’s ceremony, which is somethig akin to the Oscars in France.  

According to Twitter’s feed, her bold move has received some strong support on social media:

“Wake me up when Corinne Masiero is president. Thank you,” one person wrote.

French actors, directors, and film technicians have been taking to the streets since last year to oppose the government’s shutdown of cultural venues amid the pandemic, which left the industry workers financially vulnerable. Cinemas, theatres and museums have remained closed in the country since October, even though other businesses have received a green light from the government to re-open in December.

Thousands of protesters marched across France in the past weeks to demand that the government save the cultural sector, France 24 reports, with demonstrators effectively “occupying” four national theatres this Wednesday - including the National Theatre of Strasbourg.