It was an interesting night in Hollywood when a rather jovial Oscars ceremony was thrown into upheaval by a surprising celebrity outburst.
While presenting the award for Documentary Feature (won by Summer of Soul), Chris Rock made a joke about Will Smith‘s wife Jada Pinkett Smith that prompted an unbelievable exchange.
After Rock joked to Smith that he was looking forward to a sequel to G.I. Jane starring Jada, Smith stood up from his seat near the stage, strode up to Rock and slapped him across the face. After sitting back down, Smith shouted — twice — at Rock to “keep my wife’s name out of your f–king mouth.”
The moment shocked the Dolby Theatre audience and viewers at home. At the commercial break, presenter Daniel Kaluuya came up to to hug Smith, and Denzel Washington escorted him to the side of the stage. The two talked and hugged and Tyler Perry came over to talk as well.
It is unclear whether this was a staged bit or not, but most reports indicate that it was unscripted and authentic.
A short time later, Will Smith won Best Actor, and delivered an intense monologue that included an apology to his “fellow nominees.”
“Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family,” Smith said in his first remarks. He continued: “I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people.”
Williams shared what Washington told him: “At your highest moment, be careful because that’s when the devil comes for you.”
Ultimately, Smith apologized to the academy and to his fellow nominees (but notably not directly to Rock).
“Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father,” said Smith. “But love will make you do crazy things.”
At the end of his speech, Smith joked that he hopes the Academy will invite him back.
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Up until that moment however, the show had been running smoothly.
The Oscars got underway Sunday off-camera, with the first eight awards on the night being handed out at the Dolby Theatre before the start of the broadcast.
The first award went to Dune, for best sound. It was the first of several awards for Denis Villeneuve’s science-fiction epic, which won in many of the technical categories.
The Queen of Basketball, about the basketball great Lusia Harris, took best short documentary film. Its executive producers include Steph Curry and Shaquille O’Neal. The Long Goodbye, a blistering fictional short starring Riz Ahmed also won, as did The Windshield Wiper for best animated short.
From inside Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre, Venus and Serena Williams, whose childhood is dramatized in the Will Smith-led “King Richard,” began the broadcast by introducing Beyoncé. She performed the film’s nominated song, “Be Alive,” in an elaborately choreographed performance from a lime-colored, open-air stage in Compton, where the Williams’ grew up.
Ariana DeBose took home the first televised Oscar of the night for Actress in a Supporting Role for her portrayal of Anita in West Side Story. She becomes the first Afro-Latina and openly LGBTQ actor to win in the category. “To anybody who has ever questioned your identity,” she said, “I promise you there is a place for us.”
Troy Kotsur also took home the Oscar for Actor in a Supporting Role for Frank Rossi in CODA — the first deaf actor to win this award. He gave a touching speech about his father, also deaf, who was paralyzed in a car crash and no longer able to use sign language. Kotsur dedicated his award to the disabled community.
CODA took home the coveted Best Picture Oscar as well. The film, about a child of deaf parents, is the first-ever movie from a streaming service to be handed Hollywood’s top award. Sian Heder’s CODA, which first premiered at a virtual Sundance Film Festival in winter 2021, started out as an underdog but gradually emerged as the Oscars’ feel-good favourite.
During the broadcast, there was also a moment of silence for Ukraine, acknowledging those who have been displaced during the war and are in need of food, shelter and medical care.
Netflix’s The Power of the Dog had 12 nominations, the most of any film this year. Jane Campion won for her direction of the film — she was also the only woman nominated in this category. Campion is only the third woman to win best director. It’s also the first time the directing award has ever gone to women in back-to-back years, after Nomadland filmmaker Chloé Zhao won last year.
The 94th Academy Awards was hosted by three women for the first time — Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall.
Find a complete list of the winners below.
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Best Picture
Belfast
** WINNER: CODA
Don’t Look Up
Drive My Car
Dune
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story
Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem, Being the Ricardos
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
Andrew Garfield, Tick Tick Boom!
** WINNER: Will Smith, King Richard
Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of MacBeth
Actress in a Leading Role
** WINNER: Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Penelope Cruz, Parallel Mothers
Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos
Kristen Stewart, Spencer
Actor in a Supporting Role
Ciaran Hinds, Belfast
** WINNER: Troy Kotsur, CODA
Jesse Plemons, The Power of the Dog
J.K. Simmons, Being the Ricardos
Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog
Actress in a Supporting Role
Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
** WINNER: Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Judi Dench, Belfast
Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog
Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard
Directing
Kenneth Branagh, Belfast
Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car
Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
** WINNNER: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Steven Spielberg, West Side Story
Cinematography
** WINNER: Dune
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of MacBeth
West Side Story
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
** WINNER: CODA
Drive My Car
Dune
The Lost Daughter
The Power of the Dog
Writing (Original Screenplay)
** WINNER: Belfast
Don’t Look Up
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
The Worst Person in the World
Film Editing
Don’t Look Up
** WINNER: Dune
King Richard
Power of the Dog
Tick Tick Boom!
International Feature Film
** WINNER: Drive My Car
Flee
The Hand of God
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
The Worst Person in the World
Animated Feature Film
** WINNER: Encanto
Flee
Luca
The Mitchells vs. the Machine
Raya and the Last Dragon
Animated Short Film
Affairs of the Art
Bestia
Box Ballet
Robin Robin
** WINNER: The Windshield Wiper
Music (Original Song)
Be Alive
Dos Orugitas
Down to Joy
** WINNER: No Time to Die
Somehow You Do
Music (Original Score)
Don’t Look Up
** WINNER: Dune
Encanto
Parallel Mothers
The Power of the Dog
Sound
Belfast
** WINNER: Dune
No Time to Die
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story
Documentary Feature
Ascension
Attica
Flee
** WINNER: Summer of Soul
Writing With Fire
Documentary Short Subject
Audible
Lead Me Home
** WINNER: The Queen of Basketball
Three Songs for Benazir
When We Were Bullies
Makeup and Hairstyling
Coming to America
Cruella
Dune
** WINNER: The Eyes of Tammy Faye
House of Gucci
Costume Design
** WINNER: Cruella
Cyrano
Dune
Nightmare Alley
West Side Story
Live Action Short Film
Ala Kachuu – Take and Run
The Dress
** WINNER: The Long Goodbye
On My Mind
Please Hold
Production Design
** WINNER: Dune
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of MacBeth
West Side Story
Visual Effects
** WINNER: Dune
Free Guy
No Time to Die
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home
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— With files from The Associated Press
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