Oscars: 5 Biggest Controversies Of The Academy Awards

Oscars Controversies: The 94^th edition of the Academy Awards have been trending today, however, it is not for a ceremony but for a violent altercation that snatched the limelight. In front of the audience—live and ones present in Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles—actor Will Smith walked onto the stage and slapped the event’s host Chris Rock.

Comedian and Oscar’s 2022 host Chris Rock was in for a rude shock when he made a crass joke about Actor-singer Jada Pinkett Smith’s hairstyle. Pinkett Smith who is married to Will Smith has been open about her struggles with alopecia, a condition in which people lose hair rapidly on their scalp, eyebrows and eyelashes. The comedian in front of a global audience however took a jibe at her by saying he was looking forward to seeing Jada as GI Jane II (Demi Moore sported a similar hairstyle in a 1997 film).

This prompted the actor to go on stage and slap Chris Rock. However, this is not the first time when Oscars was in news because of a controversy. Here are other controversies that happened at Oscar’s before today’s slap gate

The #OscarsSoWhite Controversy (2016)

In 2016, the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite was the high point of the event. People across the globe were talking about how the Academy Awards nominee for the second consecutive year were largely Caucasian while people of colour had very few nominations. Owing to this many celebrities like Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, Spike Lee and others boycotted the event as a mark of their protest. The ceremony’s host in 2016 Chris Rock also made the ">protest known. Although the Academy has tried to become more inclusive, this blunder was inexcusable

Asghar Farhadi refuses to attend (2017)

Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi’s film The Salesman could have won his second Oscar—he won Best Foreign Language Film in 2012 for his drama A Separation—but the filmmaker declined the trip because of then-president Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban on “terrorist countries”. In his statement to a renowned publication, he had mentioned that ifs and buts are not acceptable to him even if exceptions were to be made for him. Trump had imposed a travel ban for 90 days on citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Suggested Reading: Will Smith Is Not A Hero For His Violent Response To Chris Rock’s Crass Joke

Sacha Baron Cohen provokes North Korea (2012)

For Sacha Baron Cohen there’d be no better venue than Academy Awards to pull off a prank. The actor-comedian may have smuggled an Ali G outfit in the 2016 ceremony to voice on the #OscarsSoWhite racism row but in 2012 he had pulled off a memorable stunt. He arrived dressed as his The Dictator character ">holding an urn with “ashes” of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. He was swiftly taken away by security before he could trigger the third world war.

Adrien Broody Kissing Halle Berry Without Consent (2003)

Actor Adrien Broody won the Best Actor for his performance in The Pianist. When he went onto the stage to college the award from Halle Berry, things took a ">strange turn when Broody kissed Halle. The embarrassing moment elicited a lot of awkward laughter and shook Halle. Although she maintained her composure, she later revealed that it was not consensual.

Suggested Reading: Will Smith Oscars Controversy: Was That Slap An Instance Of Male Saviour Complex?

The Envelopegate (2017)

This incident from the 2017 Oscar awards ceremony remains one of the most memorable ones. Everyone from the cast and crew of the musical La La Land went on stage to accept the Best Film award. But soon enough, it was"> found that Moonlight was the actual winner. The agency responsible for managing Oscar ballots and subsequent results had handed presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway an incorrect envelope. The terrible mix-up was later known as ‘Envelopegate’.