Melissa McCarthy hopes her feline co-star sweeps the Pawscars, which are a real thing

The Academy Awards are so dumb and out of touch at this point that even creating a new category specifically for “popular” movies (i.e. “The Honorary Black Panther Oscar”) was seen as dumb and out of touch, but Vulture has introduced us to a much more meaningful trophy that goes to much cuter and more deserving winners. This is all thanks to Melissa McCarthy, who was so impressed by the acting talent of her co-star Towne in Marielle Heller’s Can You Ever Forgive Me? that she’s personally trying to generate some awards buzz (via Deadline). Towne happens to be a cat, though, and Melissa McCarthy is hoping he can sweep the “Cat Oscars.”

Vulture’s story notes that there isn’t really a Cat Oscars, but the American Humane Association does run something called the Pawscars that are basically the same thing. There used to be an award called the PATSY a few decades ago that honored animal performers, with winners including the mule from Francis The Talking Mule, the mule from Francis Goes To The Races, and the mule from Francis Goes To West Point (what the hell were you thinking, ‘50s Hollywood?), but it hasn’t been given out since the ‘80s.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? won’t be released until later this year, so we can’t say for sure if Towne’s performance is on par with all of those Hollywood mules, but he definitely looks like a very good boy and a very talented actor in the trailer (even if he’s only in it for a couple seconds). Obviously, the only thing to do here is to cancel the normal Oscars broadcast, give out the trophies at a non-televised event, and then air a star-studded Pawscars ceremony instead. Maybe some descendants of Francis the talking mule can share a few words on what it’s like to be an animal actor? (That’s assuming they can also talk, of course.)