No ifs, no buts: These are the 10 most controversial Oscar wins of all time

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2 months ago

This Sunday marks the 96th Academy Awards (aka The Oscars aka the biggest night for the film industry). It’s the most highly coveted event of the year, from the six-figure gift bags to the star-studded audience. However, all this glamour does not mean they are without their fair shares of controversies.

Over the past 96 years, there’s been a few jaw-dropping moments. So, ahead of the ceremony this weekend, let’s take a look back at the top 10 most controversial Oscar wins of all time:

10. Rami Malek winning Best Actor

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2019 was Malek’s year as he won awards from the BAFTAs, Golden Globes, and SAGs for his depiction of Freddy Mecury in Bohemian Rapsody. This was controversial as many thought Bradley Cooper’s performance as the brooding Jackson Maine in A Star is Born deserved the win instead. Bradley, it seems, still hasn’t gotten over the snub.

9. Brokeback Mountain’s snub

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Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal’s portrayal of lovers was one of the most sexually charged in cinematic history, however, the little-known Crash got Best Picture. A good example of longevity not equaling critical acclaim.

8. Life of Pi winning Best Cinematography

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In 2013, the SFX tiger in Life of Pi was a cinematic masterpiece. However, despite winning the award, the visual effects house Rhythm & Hues still went bankrupt resulting in protests outside the Dolby Theatre for more respect for special effects.

7. The first Oscar rejection

Back in 1936, Dudley Nichols was the first ever person to refuse an Oscar. In an eerily similar climate to today’s industry, Hollywood writers were also striking then and Nichols believed that it was wrong to accept his Oscar for Best Screenplay for The Informer.

6. Shakespeare in Love winning Best Picture

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In 1998, the romantic comedy Shakespeare in Love beat Saving Private Ryan”to the accolade of Best Picture. Although Joseph Fieness and Gwenyth Paltrow did a beautiful job at portraying the young playwright falling in love, many thought Stephen Spielberg’s war epic deserved to win.

5. Roman Polanski winning Best Director

Polanski wasn’t at the 75th Academy Awards because he had fled the country 25 years prior after pleading guilty to statutory rape. This horrific crime somehow didn’t stop him from winning Best Director for The Pianist, which revealed a lot about the necessity of the #MeToo movement which came 15 years later.

4. Pulp Fiction lost to Forrest Gump

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If you have ever been in a twenty-something’s boy’s bedroom then you have seen the promotional poster of Uma Therman smoking a cigarette in Pulp Ficiton. Ironically, no matter how many times the film’s impact is mansplained to you – it didn’t actually win Best Picture! It did however win Best Original Screenplay.

3. La La Land mistakingly winning Best Picture

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One of the most toe-curlingly cringe moments in Oscar history was in 2016 when Faye Dunaway and Warren Beaty accidentally announced La La Land as winning Best Picture, when really it was Moonlight. Although the producer Jordan Horowitz was a great sport, the mix-up must secretly haunt them all.

2. Marlon Brando refusing Best Actor

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Marlon Brando did not collect his award for Best Actor in The Godfather and instead sent the Apache actress Sacheen Littlefeather up on stage. She used her speech to advocate for the “poor treatment of Native Americans in the film industry” and received both cheers and boos from a shocked Academy Award’s audience.

1. Will Smith winning after slapping Chris Rock

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Last but not least, in 2021 the iconic phrase “keep my wife’s name out your f****** mouth” was brought into cultural lexicon. Will Smith slapped Rock, the host, after he made an insensitive joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair. This resulted in Smith being banned from the Oscars for 10 years, he still won Best Actor for King Richard though.