The 89th edition of the Academy Awards will be impossible to forget. The Oscars ceremony on February 26 ended in chaos after Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway mistakenly announced 'La La Land' as the winner for best film, when in fact the prize was for 'Moonlight'.
This was not in the script
The 2017 Oscargate will go down in history as one of the most scandalous events of these awards. But this is by no means the only fiasco that has been experienced during a ceremony of delivery of the Academy Awards. And is that even a machine as well greased as this has to fail from time to time. In its nine decades of life, the Oscars have given us numerous fails, of which we selected 12 of the most uncomfortable below. Including the latest, of course.
1 Adele Dazeem
The ceremony of the Oscars of 2014 left us a brief moment that could not stop talking for days. John Travolta came on stage to introduce Idina Menzel, who was at the Dolby Theater to sing the Oscar-nominated musical theme 'Let It Go', from 'Frozen'. However, Travolta mispronounced the name of the actress and singer, whom he called "Adele Dazeem". Of course, to "mispronounce" is to fall short, because Travolta changed her name almost completely.
But the damage was done and the memes were already in full force. Even a "Travoltify" name generator was created.
The following year, Travolta had his chance to redeem himself by coming on stage with Menzel, however, that moment was even more uncomfortable than last year, with the actor making caresses and touching Idina's face in a really strange manner. Weird, weird, weird.
2 Jennifer Lawrence fell over (Twice)
Back in 2013, the fact Jennifer Lawrence screwed up in public was still surprising. The actress went up to pick up her Oscar for best actress for 'Silver Linings Playbook' and stumbled in her white dress on the steps of the stage, falling semi-seated on them. Luckily, Hugh Jackman was in the front row and he was quick and quick to help. The following year, Lawrence fell again, this time on the red carpet, sealing her future reputation.
However, the falls of the actress served to amuse the public and to increase that aura of normal and adorable girl that it took to become one of the dearest stars of Internet. What a good times...
3 Julia Roberts flies over Denzel Washington
As if it were not enough with Julia Roberts' goofy and overly long speech of thanks for 'Erin Brockovich' in 2001 (in which she did not even thank Brockovich herself), the following year the actress starred in another moment of shame in the gala announcing the Oscar winner for best actor, Denzel Washington. An exalted Roberts announced it this way: "And the Oscar is for ... I love my life! Denzel Washington". After the speech, Roberts jumped on the actor, who had to leave the stage with her in weight. Denzel tried to disguise how uncomfortable he was because of the actress's exaggerated affection, but he did not quite get it.
4 Deaf Girls?
In 1976, Louise Fletcher rose to pick up her Oscar for best actress and dedicated part of the speech of gratitude to her deaf parents, whom she addressed using sign language. The moment was so emotional, that the Academy decided to include this language in the ceremony of the following year. Eleven girls from the John Tracy Deaf Clinic took the stage to accompany Debby Boone in her performance of the song 'You Light Up My Life'. However, none of the girls were deaf and they also did not master sign language, so the words did not match those Boone sang. After the "show", instead of apologizing, the Academy was justified in saying "No one said that the girls were deaf. In addition, it was a medical doctor who chose them." Bravo.
5 "We saw your boobs"
In the case of the 2013 gala, it was not so much that there were technical errors or failures of the direct. It is that the opening musical number of politically incorrect Seth MacFarlane provoked a veritable wave of embarrassment among the audience there, thus creating one of the most uncomfortable moments in recent awards history. The presenter kicked off the gala with the song 'We Saw Your Boobs', which listed the actresses who had appeared topless in the movies that year. The number offended many people, especially Charlize Theron, whose face when MacFarlane mentions it is a poem. Of course that was not enough reason to antagonize them, and shortly after the actress would work to its orders in 'A Million Ways to Die in the West'.
6 Doing a Kanye
Shortly after Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift's speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, something similar happened at the Oscars. It was in 2010 when Elinor Burkett, an ex-producer of the Academy Award-winning documentary short film 'Music by Prudence', interrupted director Roger Ross Williams, who had just begun his thank-you speech. Burkett, who had the idea for the documentary but was dismissed from production, eclipsed the director by saying, "The man never lets the woman speak, which is classic, right?" A sector of the public was smiling and applauding the daring of the producer, but the tension could be cut with a knife.
7 Marlon Brando rejects his Oscar
One of the tenser moments of the Oscars was way back in 1973, when Marlon Brando won the best actor award for 'The Godfather', but did not attend the gala. Instead, the actor sent Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather, who proceeded to deliver a speech denouncing the media's image of the Native Americans, and rejected the award on behalf of Brando. The moment was received with applause, but also with boos from the audience.
8 The First Televised Oscars
The first time the Oscar's ceremony was televised, way back in 1953, not everything ran so smoothly. In addition to the large number of winners who hadn't shown up, there were a few tense moments. One of them was when John Wayne had to take the stage to pick up the Oscar ofhttp://www.movienco.co.uk/stars/gary-cooper/, who had won best actor for 'High Noon', a film that Wayne himself hated for being an allegory of Hollywood blacklists. Although Wayne disguised it with education and savoir faire.
But the worst moment of the night was when Cecil B. DeMille's "The Greatest Show on Earth" won the Oscar for Best Picture, despite being considered the worst of the candidates. According to the book Inside Inside, by Mason Wiley and Damien Bona, when it was announced to the winner during the television broadcast, in addition to the timid applause of reaction, you could hear; "Who decides these things?".
9 The booed speech of Michael Moore
In 2003, 'Bowling for Columbine' won the Oscar for Best Documentary. Its director, Michael Moore, gave an incendiary thank-you speech with a strong political charge, in which he attacked President George W. Bush. However, his words were muted by the loud boos and shouts of those attending the gala. Moore ended his speech by force when the orchestra began to play for the director to leave the stage, but he did not do so without shouting several times "Shame on you, Mr Bush!"
A show in the worst sense of the word.
10 An exhibitionist onstage
At the 1974 ceremony, just before presenter David Niven gave way to Elizabeth Taylor to present the Best Picture Award, the photographer and gay rights activist Robert Opel ran naked around the stage making the sign of peace . Streaking was common in the 70's, hence perhaps Niven remained almost impassive to the surprise while those present reacted with laughter, along with Taylor . The presenter continued his work joking: "Ladies and gentlemen, this was something that had to happen. But is not it fascinating that the only laugh that man is going to provoke in his life is by stripping himself and showing his limitations?" Following the incident, security at the ceremony was strengthened for the next few years.
11 The Wrong Frank
The one that is probably the biggest pifia of the Oscars until the great Oscargate of 2017 took place in the sixth edition of the Academy Awards, in 1933. The presenter of the prize for Best Director, Will Rogers, had the great idea to announce to the Winner saying only his first name: "Come up here, Frank," said Rogers shortly after opening the envelope. The problem is that there were two Frank nominees, Frank Capra for 'Lady for a Day' and Frank Lloyd for 'Cavalcade'. The former believed that Rogers was referring to him and went on stage, but then it became clear that the winner was actually Lloyd. Later Capra described the humiliating moment of returning to his seat as "The longest, saddest and devastating journey of my life. I wish I could have crawled under a carpet like a wretched worm. When I returned to my chair I felt like one. All my friends were crying at our table."
12 The mess up of 'Moonlight' and 'La La Land'
For many mistakes, embarrassing moments, mistakes of the direct or uncomfortable situations experienced in the more than 80 years of the Academy Awards, nothing can compare to the great fiasco of 2017. The one that was a correct gala and without incident ended with a surprise twist worthy of M. Night Shyamalan when Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway mistakenly announced the winner for best picture. Due to a confusion with envelopes, Beatty ended up with the corresponding best actress (Emma Stone in 'La La Land') in her hands, which led to Dunaway declaring the winner Damien Chazelle's film, when in fact the prize was for 'Moonlight'.
Chazelle and his team took the stage to thank the award and in the middle of the speech, producer of 'La La Land' Jordan Horowitz was warned of the error and announced to the winner before the stupor of those present and the spectators at home, offering to hand over the statuette to the Moonlight producers. The ceremony ended in utter chaos, with La Land and Moonlight teams mingling on stage, an embarrassing situation for La La Land and a bittersweet victory for Moonlight. Undoubtedly one of the most scandalous and, why not say, exciting, moments that have been lived in a live television broadcast.