It's Oscars night on Sunday, an evening of glittering Hollywood fawning, tears and the overuse of the expression "incredible human being". But what happens when things don’t quite go to plan? We look back at the most bizarre Oscar moments ever
It was the slap that rang around the world.
Back in March 2022, the 94th Academy Awards were carrying along in their usual Hollywood love-in way when something happened live on stage that left us all wide-eyed in disbelief.
Host Chris Rock was in the middle of his patter (or "roasting" as our American cousins call it) when one member of the audience took grave exception to one of his throwaway remarks.
After Rock made a crack about actress Jada Pinkett Smith, her husband, Will Smith, stormed the stage and slapped him.
Oscars 2026: Everything you need to know
It was great television but it was to make already risk adverse TV executives even more squeamish when it comes to huge live TV events. Terrified of a repeat of such unpleasantness, the Oscars ceremony has become a very choreographed affair devoid of controversy.
#Oscarssotrite, anyone?
And quite apart from the potential for star-on-star violence, there are plenty of other reasons for TV networks to get the jitters.
Given the geopolitical quagmire we are once again wading through, big events like the Academy Awards are often used as a platform by conscientious stars to make political statements - and with the current (litigious and television-obsessed) White House incumbent, TV producers’ fingers are hovering over the edit button more than ever.
The BBC’s recent Baftas debacle and the editing of political statements during ITV's broadcast of the recent Brit Awards as well as Trump's legal threat against Grammys host Trevor Noah, have ushered in a new climate of paranoia about potential online backlash and accusations of bias.
And that’s not the only problem facing TV coverage of the Oscars.
With viewing figures plummeting (it turns out not everybody enjoys watching tremendously rich and famous people ass and air kissing), the whole ceremony is set to depart US network TV in 2029 and be screened exclusively on YouTube.
Maybe that will make for a less strait-laced Oscar night.
In any case, Will Smith’s 2022 slap remains perhaps the most infamous moment in Oscar history but there are plenty more where that came from . . .
Marlon Brando boycotts the Oscars and sends Sacheen Littlefeather instead (1973)
Marlon Brando became the latest in a long line of actors who used the Oscars to make a political point in 1973 when he was nominated for Best Actor for his role as Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather. However, he boycotted the ceremony and instead sent a native American woman named Sacheen Littlefeather to reject his gong and make a damning speech - to a mix of boos and cheers - about Hollywood’s treatment of native Americans. That this happened as Hollywood was producing revisionist westerns that portrayed a more realistic portrayal of the old west made sense but Littlefeather claimed that she was prevented from delivering Brando's full speech. A full 45 years later in 2018, she finally got to read the actor's full words.
David Niven Vs a streaker (1974)
He shared a house dubbed "Cirrhosis-by-the-Sea" with Errol Flynn in the 1930s, served in World War Two, and navigated Hollywood’s golden age with grace and style so do you really think a mere streaker was going to present a problem for David Niven? Always the epitome of English reserve, the actor’s 1974 Oscar’s speech was rudely and lewdly interrupted by an extravagantly moustachioed and very naked man who bounded across the stage, while offering a peace sign to the shocked audience. Niven shrugged and said, "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?" Well played, that man!
James Franco dresses up as Marilyn Monroe (2011)
Back in 2011, James Franco and Anne Hathaway were among the most cringey Oscar hosts ever but after an evening of dud jokes and stilted repartee, Franco still had one more trick up his sleeve. He - or someone - thought it would be good idea if he dressed up as Marilyn Monroe (a very butch Marilyn Monroe) in her role in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Adrien Brody gets handsy (2003)
One might have expected a degree of decorum from Adrien Brody after he won the Best Actor gong for his portrayal of a starving Jewish musician trying to survive the Warsaw Ghetto during World War Two in The Pianist, but the actor rather let the side down with his strange on-stage shenanigans. He used his acceptance speech as an opportunity to act inappropriately to Halle Berry, grabbing and kissing her without her consent.
Jack Palance does push-ups live on stage (1992)
The great Jack Palance finally won an Oscar for his role as Curly Washburn in City Slickers and he used the moment to deliver the best Oscar night line in history when he said of host and City Slickers co-star, "Billy Crystal? I crap bigger than him". But in a stunt you might expect to see on The Rose of Tralee or during a press briefing from US Secretary of WAR!!! Pete Hegseth, the then 73-year-old Palance dropped to the floor and did one-armed push-ups to prove just how ruddy male he really was. Great stuff but we still think Jack should have won decades earlier for his role as baddie Jack Wilson in Shane.
Michael Moore: Booing for Columbine (2003)
Maverick director Michael Moore delivered an eloquently savage critique of the Bush administration and the Iraq war during his acceptance speech for Best Documentary Feature for Bowling for Columbine in 2003 but his words left the Hollywood elite (usually a liberal lot) sorely divided. In what we can only describe as a boo-off, one half of the audience railed against Moore, provoking supportive cheering from the other half. No doubt President Trump will be pretending not to watch the Oscars on Sunday night so it will be interesting to see how many stars and studios are willing to provoke his ire.
Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway read out the wrong winner (2017)
Of course, the main point of the Oscars for mere mortals are the debates about who won, who should have won, who wuz robbed, and who wore what on the red carpet. However, back in 2017, there was only one talking point the next morning. In one of the most bizarre moments in Oscar history, Hollywood veterans Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty totally messed up the announcement of the Best Picture Academy Award.
The Bonnie and Clyde co-stars rocked on stage but they had been given a second, back-up envelope announcing a previous winner, Emma Stone, as best actress for La La Land. In fact, Moonlight was the actual Best Picture winner.
PwC, the auditors tasked with the management of the Academy Award announcements, were left ashen-faced. In fact, only days before that year’s ceremony, a representative from the company had appeared on RTÉ Radio 1 and spoke about the 'redundancy’ the company had built into the management system, ensuring the near-impossibility of mistakes being made. Oooops . . .
THAT slap (2022)
It wasn't quite the comedy/action blockbuster crossover we were hoping for but everybody had to collect their jaw from the floor when Will Smith stormed the stage and slapped host Chris Rock across the face after the comedian made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith at the 2022 Oscars.
The actor - who was nominated in the Best Actor category on the night and subsequently won - had taken offence to a gag Rock made about Pinkett Smith's short haircut; to wit - "Jada, can't wait for GI Jane 2", prompting the actress to roll her eyes. However, Smith walked up on stage and hit Rock before returning to his seat and shouting (twice): "Keep my wife's name out of your f****** mouth." A shocked and flustered Rock said it was, "the greatest night in the history of television." Smith later apologised but he still earned a ten-year ban from the Academy.
The 98th Academy Awards will be broadcast live on RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player from 11pm on Sunday.
RTÉ will also be airing The Oscars highlights on Monday, 16 March at 9:30 pm on RTÉ2
