Aurora Starchild
It’s always fun when there’s a show within an award show, which has happened occasionally at the Oscars. Never a dull moment, a room full of stars are just waiting to hop up and accept their award — and possibly stick it to someone or something. Maybe they just lost their cool or maybe it was a message they’d waiting their whole lifetimes to give, here are the 8 most controversial moments in Oscar history.
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The 2016 Oscars Were Boycotted
After a very whitewashed two years at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), many stars boycotted the 2016 award ceremony. Not a single person of color was nominated for a single award in 2015 or 2016. The result was a #OscarsSoWhite trend in a unified attempt to bring attention to the issue. Leading the boycott was Jada Pinkett Smith, who announced her intention on Martin Luther King’s birthday. Will Smith, Spike Lee, Ava DuVerney, George Clooney, David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong’o, Mark Ruffalo, Al Sharpton, and 50 Cent were just some of the other stars who stood in solidarity with the boycott. Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the Academy’s president, issued a statement acknowledging the lack of diversity and vowing to take “dramatic steps” to make it more inclusive.
Glenn Close Impresses Everyone With “Da Butt”
Glenn Close proved she hasn’t aged a day during the 93rd Academy Award ceremony in 2021. DJ Questlove was playing the 1998 funk hit “Da Butt” when comedian Lil Rel Hower approached Close. He started quizzing her on the song and, when Glenn Close started thinking, he was about to leave her table. But then she stopped him and started rattling off an encyclopedia of facts about “Da Butt.” She knew exactly who wrote it and why, and what was going on in the world when it happened. Then Hower challenged Close to do the dance and she got up and shook her tush like a pro. The room and living rooms everywhere erupted in cheers. Hower was taken aback as well. Close later assured the public that it was completely improvised.
Roman Polanski Wins an Oscar After Fleeing the Country as a Fugitive
Director and producer Roman Polanski was awarded an Oscar for Best Picture in 2003 for The Pianist. The thing is, though, he wasn’t in the United States. He’d been charged with five felonies including rape in 1977. After pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old in 1978, he flew to Paris. Unable to return to the United States lest he go to prison, he was a fugitive for rape and yet the Academy awarded him. It was hackle-raising to say the least. However, the AMPAS eventually ousted him as a member in 2018 for violating ethical standards due to the incident.
Joaquin Phoenix Tore the Dairy Industry a New A**hole… In a Loving Way
Accepting his award as Best Actor for his role in Joker in 2020, Joaquin Phoenix recognized “the opportunity to use our voice for the voiceless.” He proceeded to give a heartfelt and well-received speech about the cruel life conditions that dairy cows are subjected to. Mentioning artificial insemination and having baby calves torn away, he also said he saw an opening for humanity to find compassion and rise above itself. The speech was quite long and hailed as heroic by animal activists but condemned by dairy farmers, of course. He was also invited to visit a dairy farm afterwards.
Marlon Brando Sends Sacheen Littlefeather to Refuse His Oscar
At the 45th Academy Awards in 1973, Marlon Brando won the Best Actor award for The Godfather. However, as soon as he was named, a Native American civil rights activist named Sacheen Littlefeather walked up on stage. Holding a long speech of Brando’s in her hands, she apologized that she could not fully read it due to time constraints. However, she did say that he was regretfully refusing the award due to “the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry.” She was met with a mix of boos and claps and later ostracized for the moment.
The Academy officially apologized to Sacheen Littlefeather nearly 50 years later. “The abuse you endured because of this statement was unwarranted and unjustified,” wrote former Academy president David Rubin. “The emotional burden you have lived through and the cost to your own career in our industry are irreparable. For too long the courage you showed has been unacknowledged. For this, we offer both our deepest apologies and our sincere admiration.” She was also invited to appear at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures to discuss the historical moment and the future of Indigenous representation in Hollywood. She called it a “dream come true” despite having to wait nearly half a century.
A Random Streaker Flashes the World
During the 46th annual Academy Awards in 1974, the audience started shrieking in laughter and surprise as host David Niven was speaking. “And now to divulge the contents of this year’s most important envelope is a very important contributor to world entertainment,” said Niven. “And someone quite likely—” Before he could say another word, a naked man ran on stage behind him, waving the peace sign with his fingers. Niven continued, “Well ladies and gentlemen, that was um, almost bound to happen,” he said. “But isn’t it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings?”
Angelina Jolie Sparks Incest Rumors
When Angelina Jolie won the award for Best Supporting Actress for Girl, Interrupted, she was flooded with tears. It was her first ever Oscar and apparently, it was also the first day her mother, Marcheline, had been treated for cancer. She was sitting in the audience with her brother, Jamie, waiting to hear the results. And when she got up on stage, she made a joke about fainting before saying, “I’m in shock. And I’m so in love with my brother right now,” before nervously giggling. Later that night, she was photographed kissing him on the lips in what sure did look like an intimate lip-lock. Although a family friend assured the news that the rumors of incest were false, people were still left scratching their heads.
Will Smith Slapped Chris Rock
You didn’t think we’d forget “The Oscar Slap,” did you? It’s still fresh in everyone’s minds because it just happened in 2022. Chris Rock mocked Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia while making a joke and Will Smith lost his flipping mind. He dropped the F-bomb, walked right up on stage, and slapped Rock across the face in what almost appeared to be a slug. Smith was severely condemned for the move. The AMPAS officially banned him from every forthcoming Oscar ceremony for the following decade. The moment nearly canceled Smith although he did recover and wasn’t totally blacklisted from Hollywood. He’s since apologized for the move, which has been permanently memed and will likely continue to be so until the next big fiasco occurs.
