Our top 10 Cringiest Oscar moments
We found some of the worst moments, so you don’t have to!
The Oscars are one of the most anticipated awards shows every year! Worldwide, people log on to Twitter dot com (come on, who has cable anymore, pfft!) to participate in all the hot takes of the best dressed and the worst dressed on the red carpet. Or who hadn’t live-tweeted as awards are handed out and expressed anger as their faves were snubbed, or take joy when something terrible has happened. NGL, we have. But honestly, the list is endless, and as you can imagine: there is never a dull moment at The Oscars! So to honour that, we’re counting down our cringest moments from Oscar's past.
Angelina Jolie loves her brother...a lot (2000)
It is almost always endearing when stars bring their family members to red carpet events. It can genuinely showcase just how close a celeb is to their family. And in some instances, maybe a little, ahem—TOO close. It seemed harmless enough: Angelina Jolie had her brother accompany her to the 2000 Oscars. As they strolled the red carpet, Jolie and her brother shared what looked like a very intimate kiss after winning Best Supporting Actress for her role in Girl Interrupted. Jolie even said, "I'm so in love with my brother right now." Post-Oscars, the media created a whirlwind of controversy over the kiss, to which Jolie said it was an innocent display of affection and should not be read into it. Sure, okay, Jan. Whatever you say.
Angelina Jolie and her brother on the Oscars red carpet/2000
James Franco and Anne Hathaway Hosting (2011)
Is it wrong to say the entirety of James Franco and Anne Hathaway's hosting was super cringe? While the two actors had never worked together before hosting the 2011 Oscars, the vibes were not there. While it would be rude of me to say they didn't put in any work (hello, there was a costume change!) but from jokes that flopped to neither of them sharing eye contact with one another — oof. It was hard to watch, and I love Anne! What a weird pairing! Many claimed that there had even been some tension between the two after reports of Franco telling Hathaway to stop trying to tell him how to be funny, but after that whole performance, I wish she did.
James Franco and Anne Hathaway hosting/2011
Ashes to ashes, dust to WTF (2012)
Sacha Baron Cohen isn't known for his light sense of humour. So when the Borat star took to the red carpet to promote his new raunchy movie, The Dictator, he dressed entirely in character and stayed very true to his role. Even carrying an urn meant to represent the ashes of former North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Il. While one-on-one with Ryan Seacrest, Cohen spills 'ashes' on Seacrest's costly suit, even having security break up their interview. The best and worst part? Cohen never breaks character. Maybe even worse than that? No one laughed.
Sacha Baron Cohen in full character/2012
Seth McFarland's "We Saw Your Boobs" (2013)
Seth McFarland had one of the more memorable hosting gigs in Oscar history, not for anything good tho. McFarland kicked off the 2013 Oscars with an original song titled "We Saw Your Boobs," dedicated to almost every female actress in the audience. The latter partook in a role involving full-frontal nudity. However, the painfully sexist host did not stop there. Oh no, McFarland decided to go one step further, making a joke about the physical abuse Rihanna faced in her relationship with Chris Brown, comparing it to Django Unchained, saying, "it's the story of a man fighting to get back his woman, who has been subjected to unthinkable violence. Or, as Chris Brown and Rihanna call it, a date movie," Bro, what? Why are men like this? So gross!
Seth McFarland singing his awful original song "We Saw Your Boobs”/2013
J-Law falling x2 (2013 & 2014)
This wouldn't be an embarrassing Oscar moments list without Jennifer Lawrence's iconic falls. The first spill in 2013 was when she was going up to accept her award for Best Actress for her role in Silver Linings Playbook, tripping on her beautiful dress up the stairs. The second of the falls happened in 2014, a few seconds after her arrival on the red carpet. After exiting her vehicle, she again tripped on her dress, but instead of letting gravity take her, she gripped the back of a woman's neck, attempting to save herself. She owned the hell out of those tumbles nonetheless — I did want to peel my skin off when I saw them.
JLaws first fall/2013
John Travolta (2014)
Travolta was tasked to welcome Broadway legend and actress Idina Menzel to sing the Oscar award-winning song for Best Original Song, Let It Go, at the 2014 Oscars. Travolta did great - except at the pronouncing her name part. Her name was deemed unrecognizable, and when he said her "name," I wasn't expecting her to come out. This is why we have rehearsals and spell check... Don't worry, she got him back by butchering Travolta’s name a year later.
John Travolta introducing Idina Menzel/2014
Memorial mishap (2017)
2017 was a very eventful Oscars. Jan Chapman, the producer known for The Last Days of Chez Nous and The Piano, was wrongfully placed on the Oscars Memoriam slideshow (meant to be Janet Patterson, an Australian costume designer who passed away in October 2016). Chapman then had to put out a statement saying that she was devastated to see her photo there but was very much alive and well. Again, this is why we double-check our work!
Memoriam of “Janet Patterson”/2017
La La Land, no, actually Moonlight (2017)
Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway arguably made one of the biggest mistakes in Oscars history. The two were given the honour of handing out the night's final award for Best Picture and called out the wrong movie La La Land (which, mind you, was projected to win) instead of Moonlight. Unfortunately, this was only discovered after La La Land's producer Jordan Horowitz read the card correctly, flashing it to the audience, saying, "There's a mistake. 'Moonlight' you guys won the best picture," adding that he was not joking. You could feel the second-hand embarrassment through the screen, especially after spotting the faces of the main characters, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling.
Jordan Horowitz flashes the correct card to the audience/2017
A complete gloss over history (2022)
Riz Ahmed was the first-ever Muslim to win an Oscar for his short film The Long Goodbye. A truly moving film about the relationships between South Asians and British Asians using the metaphor of an abusive relationship. Moving right? You would think that this absolute historic win would be everything anyone would be talking about…wrong. His short film about Islam phobia was an epic triumph, and the award wasn't even delivered through a live broadcast but a short pre-recorded snippet. Absolutely disappointing. This one made the cringe list due to the lack of traction and the lack of common sense by the academy. #dobetter
Riz Ahmed/2022
You’re not invited…(2022)
Does it count if half the awkward happened before the event? Yikes. Rachel Zegler, one of West Side Story's main protagonists, wasn't actually on the OG Oscars guest list…although the film and her co-stars were nominated for several awards. Sounds bad, right? Zegler took to Twitter/Instagram to call out the academy and express her sadness, saying she would be watching from her couch at home. It was later revealed that the lack of invitation was due to a scheduling conflict as she is filming for a new adaptation of Snow White. After what some would say was an obvious choice, an invite to her first-ever Oscars was offered just 6 days before the event - even making a joke while presenting an award ending it with "Dreams really do come true."
Jacob Elordi and Rachel Zegler present the award for Achievement in Visual Effects/2022