As an awards show, the Oscars have delivered a lot of surprises throughout the years. This is the event that gifted the world Nicole Kidman’s alien clap and the La La Land/Moonlight mix-up, after all. With any risky televised production, not everything always lands, but that’s part of the fun!
The 2022 Oscars has followed in this legacy by delivering a few hilarious, not-so-according-to-plan memories for the celebrities and audience alike. So many weird cutaways! So much stilted banter between presenters! So much awkwardness! Here are the most awkward moments to add to Oscars lore for years to come (including that viral Will Smith/Chris Rock moment).
Rachel Zegler calling out the Academy for not sending her an invite.
So this was definitely more WTF than funny, but one of West Side Story‘s main actors Rachel Zegler just…didn’t get an Oscars invite. She’s filming Snow White for Disney in London right now, but still! West Side Story got a bunch of Oscar nominations, so it was all very weird. Thankfully, after Rachel spoke up about it on social media, the Academy and Disney worked to rectify the situation, meaning Rachel ultimately got to attend her first Oscars. She even joked about the moment while presenting with Jacob Elordi, quipping, “And I never thought I would be here six days ago. Dreams really can come true—pretty fast, too.”
Lady Gaga deciding to ditch the red carpet.
After being snubbed for her role in House of Gucci, Lady Gaga decided to ditch the Oscars red carpet in order to attend Elton John’s Academy Awards viewing party instead. However! She did arrive later (in a new ‘fit, ofc) in order to present an award with Liza Minnelli, so better late than never!
Riz Ahmed winning an Oscar…and no one knowing about it.
In a controversial change, eight award categories were announced ahead of time, including Riz Ahmed’s win for the short film The Long Goodbye. Though the win was pretty damn historic (he’s the first Muslim to win the Oscar for live action short film), nobody outside the room could watch it happen, and most people ended finding out about the win via Twitter. Biiiig fail.
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Nicole Kidman throwing shade over the lack of noms for Being the Ricardos.
It’s no secret that fans weren’t too thrilled by Nicole Kidman’s casting as Lucille Ball in Being the Ricardos, but the internet (mostly) got over it after seeing the finished product. However! The movie still didn’t get a ton of love from the Academy, as it only earned three nominations, all for acting…and Nicole made it clear she wasn’t super happy about it on the red carpet. During her E! interview, Nicole alluded to snub, saying, “All of the work we do is only possible because of the people behind the scenes.” Hmm…
Regina Hall performing “COVID tests” on several male stars.
While Regina Hall’s COVID-themed bit (where she brought a handful of single male stars—such as Simu Liu and Timothée Chalamet—onstage for “random COVID testing,” even performing “COVID pat-downs” on Jason Momoa and Josh Brolin) got plenty of laughs, but the joke didn’t land with everyone. Some criticized the Oscars for allowing a COVID joke after so many have lost their lives throughout the pandemic, while others just found the bit cringey and objectifying.
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Simu Liu and Tiffany Haddish flirting while presenting.
While presenting the award for Best International Feature Film, presenters Simu Liu and Tiffany Haddish got real flirty…and while some people were feeling their chemistry, others thought the bit felt more uncomfy than sexy…especially when Simu made that voulez-vous coucher avec moi joke to Tiffany right out of the gate…😳.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi getting his speech cut off.
After Drive My Car nabbed the award for Best International Feature Film, Ryusuke Hamaguchi took the stage to give a speech—but he barely got his moment to shine. The music started to play during to play while he was speaking…twice…and though he eventually got his chance to thank everyone, the disrespect was pretty evident.
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Mila Kunis delivering a message about Ukraine…without ever saying “Ukraine.”
Though Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher have been working tirelessly to help those affected by the war (even starting a GoFundMe campaign which has raised $35 million), Mila’s message about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while presenting at the Oscars was surprisingly vague, instead alluding to “recent global events.”
The In Memoriam segment turning into a musical number.
The somber In Memoriam segment is a classic part of the Oscars, and while there’s usually an awkward oversight or two, what made it weird this year was the choice to make it into an super-upbeat musical interlude, complete with gospel singers, dancers, and a series of celeb cameos that included Jamie Lee Curtis holding a rescue dog named Mac and Cheese. It was…definitely a choice. Oh, and to make things worse, Bob Saget and Norm Macdonald were seemingly both excluded.
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Will Smith reacting to Chris Rock’s joke about Jada Pinkett Smith…
Yes, ofc we’ve gotta talk about THAT moment. While presenting an award, Chris Rock cracked a joke about Will Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith (who’s openly spoken about having a hair loss condition) looking like the star of “G.I. Jane 2” due to her low fade cut. The joke apparently didn’t sit well with Will, who then took to the stage to slap Chris and tell him to “keep my wife’s name out of your f*cking mouth,” all of which was censored. From the silence of the audience and the look on Chris’s face, it def seems like the reaction was 100 percent unscripted.
…and then making an onstage apology.
Will then won the Best Actor award for his performance in King Richard—and as expected, his speech was all kinds of uncomfortable following his tense moment with Chris. In a lengthy speech, he apologized to his fellow nominees, he cried a lot, he accidentally spit while talking (and acknowledged it), and he concluded by saying he hoped the Academy would invite him back. Truly! Wild! Times!
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