The Oscars 2024 were, by all accounts, well-received: a fun, breezy ceremony (over in less than three and a half hours!) that had a couple of genuine surprises in store, plus Ryan Gosling’s show-stopping performance of “I’m Just Ken.” There was even an applauding dog! But as always, Oscar attendees and observers have a few bees in their bonnet, from The Zone of Interest director Jonathan Glazer’s pro-ceasefire speech to the ever-contentious In Memoriam segment. Who’s mad about what? Let’s break it down.
Who’s Mad? Pro-Israel conservatives with poor listening comprehension skills.
Why? They have decided to willfully misinterpret Glazer, who said in his speech—the only one from Sunday night that directly addressed the war in Gaza—that he and Zone producer James Wilson “stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people, whether the victims of October 7 in Israel or the ongoing attack in Gaza.” Select onlookers, including former Anti-Defamation League head Abraham Foxman and former Reagan speechwriter John Podhoretz, have quoted only the first part of Glazer’s sentence, claiming that the director said onstage that he refutes his Jewish identity. This response, of course, has angered even more people, stoking a backlash to the backlash.
Who’s Mad? Anyone hoping to see who the Oscars would honor in the 2024 In Memoriam segment.
Why? As usual, the Academy got flack for leaving a number of names out of the annual montage, neglecting to show the likes of Lance Reddick, Treat Williams, and Ron Cephas Jones onscreen. (Their names were instead included in a big list that flashed briefly at the end of the segment.) But the presentation of this year’s In Memoriam sequence was particularly baffling: even the people whose faces were included receded as the cameras foregrounded a group of dancers and father-son duo Andrea and Matteo Bocelli performing “Con te partirò,” one of Bocelli Sr.’s signature songs. “I’m usually a big fan of the “In Memoriam” Oscar segment, but #Oscars2024 screwed it up in a major way,” complained film critic Kenneth Turan. “Half the time the letters were so far away and blocked by dancers I couldn’t read who the hell they were honoring. Disgraceful.” You know who wasn’t mad? Patrons of the Catalina Wine Mixer.
Who’s Mad? Members of the Martin Scorsese hive.
Why? Going into the ceremony, admirers of Scorsese’s masterful Killers of the Flower Moon knew that the film might walk away from the show with only a single Oscar win to show for its 10 nominations. Then Emma Stone won best actress over Lily Gladstone in a not-quite-upset that still hit with a jolt—and meant Flower Moon would leave the ceremony without winning any Oscars at all. Arguably, it’s in good company: Scorsese’s own Gangs of New York and The Irishman both got 10 nominations and no wins as well. And Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple went even harder, with 11 nods but no wins. At least Marty had a good seat for “I’m Just Ken.”
Who’s Mad? Barbie girls and Leonard Bernsteiniacs.
Why? The righteous anger at Greta Gerwig’s best director snub and Margot Robbie being left out of best actress was not, in the end, channeled into further Oscar support for Barbie. The movie won just one award Sunday night, for best original song. And just like Flower Moon, Bradley Cooper’s Maestro—which got seven nominations—was blanked, making Cooper one of the most-nominated people without an Oscar win in recent history. Consolation prize?
Who’s Mad? Robert Downey Jr.
Why? The eventual best supporting actor winner did not appreciate host Jimmy Kimmel’s jabs at Downey’s history of drug addiction. “This is the highest point of Robert Downey Jr.’s long and illustrious career. Well, one of the highest points,” Kimmel joked at the beginning of the ceremony. A stony-faced Downey responded by tapping his nose, prompting Kimmel to reply, “Was that too on the nose? Or was that a drug motion you made?” Downey motioned for Kimmel to wrap it up, but the Jimmy Kimmel Live host wasn’t done just yet: he asked the Oppenheimer star whether he had an acceptance speech in his pocket or “just a very rectangular penis” and brought up his poorly received 2006 family comedy The Shaggy Dog as Downey looked on without cracking a single smile.
Who’s Mad? Emma Stone’s seamstress, presumably.
Why? The best actress winner danced so enthusiastically to her old costar Gosling’s performance of “I’m Just Ken” that she broke her custom Louis Vuitton peplum gown shortly before her name was announced. Stone opened her speech by acknowledging the wardrobe malfunction: “Oh boy. My dress is broken.” Thankfully, the garment got some emergency surgery after Stone exited the stage, and by the time she went to the Oscars press room, everything was back in order.
Who’s Mad? Cat people.
Why? Just last week, it was reported that beloved border collie Messi, who appears in original screenplay winner Anatomy of a Fall, would not be present at the Oscars ceremony—perhaps in part due to the haters who allegedly told the Academy that his appearance at this year’s annual nominees luncheon “gave Anatomy of a Fall an advantage during the voting window,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. Unluckily for them, and luckily for the rest of us, Messi was at the Oscars. And he was clapping for Robert Downey Jr.
Who’s Mad? Wes Anders-fans.
Why? Like Cooper, Wes Anderson has long been an Oscars bridesmaid: before this year, he had seven nominations but no victories. This year, he was up as the director of live action short The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar—and he actually won. But Anderson didn’t attend the ceremony, making the culmination of his Oscar journey feel a bit anticlimactic. The meticulous filmmaker did issue a gracious statement soon after the show, thanking several people and explaining that he had to miss the Oscars because he’s about to start shooting a new movie in Germany—not because he’s busy “building a diorama made of corduroy,” as Kimmel joked on Sunday.
Who’s Mad? American patriots.
Why? Why is British Mother’s Day being shoved down our throats?! The annual event, which is apparently held earlier than American (i.e. real) Mother’s Day, just kept coming up in acceptance speeches made by everyone from Sean Ono Lennon to The Zone of Interest’s sound designers. All that, plus the swirling controversy around Kate Middleton’s mysteriously edited Mother’s Day picture, feels like some sort of psyop. Stop trying to make British Mother’s Day happen!
Who’s Mad? Oscar traditionalists.
Why? A kooky Al Pacino was given the honor of announcing best picture, and did so after a rambling opener that ended with him proclaiming Oppenheimer’s victory without first running back over the other nine films nominated in the category. Pacino’s delivery was so confusing—“I have to go to the envelope for that, and I will. Here it comes. And my eyes see Oppenheimer. Yes. Yes”—that both the audience and the orchestra didn’t quite know how to respond for a beat, before they realized that Pacino had in fact revealed the winner. But the Academy, at least, is not mad. “Everything went beautifully,” chief executive Bill Kramer told the New York Times after the ceremony. “He was just having fun up there.”
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