The 97th annual Oscars were held on March 2, 2025 in which countless films were nominated and honored for the team and cast that worked behind it. The Oscars awards more than just the faces that appear on the screen, but the editing, the screenplay, the costumes, and cinematography. Hosted by talk show host Conan O’Brian at the Dolby theater in Los Angeles, the night was one of the most controversial nights of Oscar history. Though prestigious, the academy went under fire for multiple reasons for the year.
Adrian Brody’s Winning Best Actor
In 2002, actor Adrian Brody had won the Best Actor Category in which he is notorious for the shocking moment when he stood before Haley Berry and kissed her without warning on stage. Whilst controversial as Haley was both married and had children at the time, she didn’t take much of a stance on how she felt other than the fact she thought it was humorous.
Decades later, nominated for his role in The Brutialist, Adrian Brody arrived at the Oscars for his recognition and was later awarded for his category once again. Both himself and Timothee Chalamet were neck in neck in the race for the Oscar after Timoethee won the SAG award for Best Actor a week prior and having his own moment of controversy when claiming his desire to be one of the greats. Though some took it as an arrogant strive, most praised Timothee for having the goal and guts to state his desire to be recognized in his career. Due to this speech, people waited until one of the final awards of the long night to see how it would all pan out in the end, and subsequently the name of Adrian Brody rang out as the winner.
Though it seems that Adrian Brody cannot strive away from controversy as upon walking on the stage, he took the gum from his mouth and threw it off the stage and to his date in the crowd. The act was deemed disgusting to act upon in such a pivotal moment and distasteful to people who thought he was mistreating his partner. Arriving on stage, Brody thanked everyone he could think of in his speech and went on for a while to express his thanks. Though once his time started to wrap up, the orchestra started to play music in order to show the urgency to stop his speech. People interpreted his instant plea to stop the music and comment about having done it before as arrogant and a reason to strip him from the Oscar. He then went on to have the longest Oscar speech in all 97 years at 5 minutes and 40 seconds. In all the time he spent out on stage, people complained on how there were no true pivotal points that Brody made that was worth the amount of time he spoke. The lack of substance, his arrogance, and the way he spoke made people start to question if he even deserved such an award and believe that Timothee Chalemet should be awarded it out of default.
Rumors of Critics Not Watching the Movies
As a result of the anticipation of the future winners, the anonymous academy members’ statements aren’t to spread around as a result of rumors or speculation. On various social media platforms, critics are shown to allegedly be making their votes on the movies solely based on biased opinions and superficial points. One being on Cynthia Erivo, as apparently many were voting against her performance due to her age being further the what was originally estimated. People have taken this critic as very unfaithful to what the academy is voting for as Cynthia has prevailed in her roles and proved herself to be worthy of the award.
Another rumor spread that the critics take no actual time to watch the movies being nominated, and instead take part of what the media is saying about who should win. Whilst there is no factual evidence to prove this being true, the rumors spread around social media criticising the voters for showing such biases in a prestigious and professional setting.
Emilia Perez Controversy
Award season in all has favored many films during its run, that being one that people just can’t seem to grasp as worthy or amazing. That being the movie Emilia Perez, that had a head start in the race for an Oscar from the Golden Globes in which they won next to every award nominated for the night. Following that recognition, viewers decided to mass watch the film only to come to the conclusion that it was considered an embarrassment of a musical film and comedic by how bad it is.
Despite all the backlash, the film won two Oscars that night and left with both Best Supporting Actress and Best Original song. Both speeches that night were subject to virality due to Saldana’s sudden yelling and sobbing, and subsequently the singing that came from the minds of the song.
