The Frustrating Oscars Telecast Failed to Live Up to Its Own Historic Moment
This was a historic Academy Awards for many reasons. Several “firsts” were made when it comes to diversity. Industry veterans earned the recognition they had worked their entire careers for. Ozempic made its red carpet debut.
It was also a telecast in which Nobel Prize-winning activist Malala Yousafzai was forced to weather a crowd bit with the Cocaine Bear, and host Jimmy Kimmel competed with himself over which would be more exhausting: his references to Will Smith’s slap from last year or the running time of the telecast. (At three and a half hours, the ceremony was actually a reasonable length by Oscars standards; the irony here, I guess, is that it was the entertainment value itself that made the proceedings feel interminable.)
Category after category, we heard heartfelt and thoughtful speeches that recognized the significance of winning an Oscar and its potential for tangible, real-world impact. Few wins were egregious enough to get upset about, and those acceptance speeches were so moving as to absolve any ill feelings anyway. And yet, after all that, the night felt hollow and, at times, even cheap. This year, the Oscars failed to rise to its own beautiful moment.