Page 39 - Seniorstoday March 2024 Issue

wrote about it like I was trying to wear a acceptance speeches had started, the bomb
black Armani and got it wrong, like I was
trying to fit in. Of course I wasn’t trying to
fit in.”
Bjork’s Swan dress is still voted the worst Oscar outfit ever
In 2015, after seeing all 20 nominations
for acting roles go to white actors, April
Reign started the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite,
and started a movement for diversity
and inclusivity, It took another year
for it to be noted that the Academy
had a history of racism, and also, the
Academy membership was 92 per cent
white. Prominent Hollywood stars like
Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith joined
the campaign, calling for boycotts of the
ceremony. Eventually, then President
Barack Obama made a statement, saying “I
think when everybody’s story is told, then
that makes for better art. That makes for
better entertainment. It makes everybody
feel part of one American family. So I think,
as a whole, the industry should do what
every other industry should do, which is
to look for talent, provide opportunity to
everybody.”
One of the most memorable moments in
Oscar history happened in 2017, when
presenters Warren Beatty and Faye
Dunaway mistakenly announced La La
Land as the winner of Best Film instead of
the actual winner, Moonlight. This mix-up
caused confusion during the live broadcast
and embarrassment all around. When the
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #57 | MARCH 2024
was dropped and La La Land producer
Jordan Horowitz had to announce, “There’s
been a mistake. Moonlight, you guys won
Best Picture. This is not a joke.”
The biggest mix up in Oscar history?
When Kevin Hart was named as the
host of the 2019 Oscars, he did not realise
that the world had become excessively
politically correct. Some of his homophobic
tweets from the past surfaced, and Hart
was forced to step down, following a huge
backlash. That year the Oscars went on
without a host.
One of the biggest what-the-hell moments
happened in 2022, and came to be known
as ‘slapgate’. The host Chris Rock made
a snide comment about the shaved head
of Jada Pinkett Smith, and her husband
Will Smith got on to the stage and slapped
him yelling, “Keep my wife’s name out of
your f***ing mouth!” It caused an uproar
that led to Smith resigning his Academy
membership and apologising to Rock.
Months later, just about saving his career
from total ruin,he told TV show host
Trevor Noah: “That was a horrific night, as
you could imagine. There’s many nuances
and complexities to it, but at the end of the
day, I just lost it. I guess what I would say
is you just never know what someone’s
going through.”
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