To say the least, this year’s Oscars were quite a handful. With the infamous Will Smith slap of course being the talk of the event, there were also some other notable things that happened there.
To start, Beyoncé got her first Oscar nomination this year. She was a contender for the Best Original Song. According to the New York Times, this is Beyoncé’s first Oscar nomination, however she has performed at the awards ceremonies many times. In 2007, she performed “Listen” from Dreamgirls. This year, her original song in the film King Richard starring Will Smith got her an Oscar nomination, so that is a great highlight for her.
Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas won the Best Original Song category this year. Their song “No Time to Die” for the James Bond film No Time to Die was ranked #1 for the Academy Awards. Thus, they both now have an Academy Award to add to their many accomplishments.
Of course, I can’t talk about this year’s Academy Awards without mentioning Will Smith. Along with the slap heard around the world, Will Smith was the winner for the Best Actor category for King Richard. Nominees for the category included Denzel Washington, Andrew Garfield, and others.
Now for the main highlight: the slap. On March 27th, 2022, Chris Rock made the fatal mistake of joking about Jada Smith’s shaved head with a reference to the movie G.I. Jane thrown in. Moments later, Will Smith, armed with his hand and his anger, walked onstage and slapped Chris Rock across the face. He then returned to his seat, telling Chris Rock to keep his wife’s name out of his mouth. He later accepted his Best Actor award, his first Oscar, for the movie King Richard.
Shortly after this, he apologized to the Academy and the other nominees, but not Chris Rock. Then, on April 8th, the Academy announced that Will Smith would be banned from the Oscars for 10 years due to the slap.
Another happening at the Oscars was a moment of silence for the war in Ukraine. One host offered the idea for Volodymyr Zelensky to “satellite in,” and while it was a good idea it was soon put to rest, with another host claiming Zelensky “could be very busy right now.” Though Zelensky and his aides greatly supported the idea of him making an appearance for recognition of the war in Ukraine and the human indecency that is taking place there, they also likely liked the idea because Zelensky was born in the show business.
The Kyiv Independent stated, “while film is an important avenue for us to express our humanity in times of conflict, the reality is millions of families in Ukraine need food, medical care, clean water and emergency services. Resources are scarce, and we — collectively and as a global community — can do more.”
I think it would be great to see Zelensky make an appearance at the Oscars. It is sad that he did not, though it is good that the Academy had a moment of silence for the events happening in his country.
There are of course many more nominations and winners for all sorts of categories. There are also important things to acknowledge or acknowledge more at the event, like the war in Ukraine. This year, however, I feel that these things were unfortunately overshadowed by the slap.