By Vincent Ramos
Staff Writer
At this year’s Oscars award show, John Cena’s delivery of best costume design award consisted of a semi-nude appearance to reference the time an completely naked man streaked the Oscars in 1974. The bit celebrates the controversial moment’s 50th anniversary and there’s no better time than now to take a look back at some of the craziest Oscar moments.
After announcing “La La Land” to be the best picture at the 2017 Oscars, the producers were quickly told that there was a mistake. The presenters were given the wrong envelope and the true winner was actually “Moonlight”. The mishap is by far the most emotionally devastating moment in Oscars history. Imagine winning the most prestigious award in the entertainment industry and then getting it stripped away moments after.
The snub itself should also be considered a crazy Oscar moment. If “La La Land” had truly won, it would’ve been legendary. The film has been a major influence on Los Angeles, predominantly for teenagers growing up in the city. In a time where teens are starting to pursue more unfulfilling careers, “La La Land” has become an inspiration to follow dreams and live life to the fullest. Ask any teen what their top five movies are and “La La Land” is probably in there. The fact that a movie that embodies the magic and prosperity that Hollywood and Los Angeles is known for doesn’t win best picture is baffling. It’s truly amazing how the “La La Land” team responded to the incident so respectfully in the heat of the moment.
In 1973, Brando won best actor for “The Godfather” but he denied the Oscar and never showed up. Instead, activist Sacheen Littlefeather took the stage and delivered a speech protesting the discrimination against Native Americans in the entertainment industry. Although very respectful in her demeanor, she was met with a lot of backlash. Littlefeather claims that as she was walking off stage, actor John Wayne had to be held back by six men to prevent him from attacking her.
The time an actor actually attacked someone on stage was when Will Smith infamous slapped Chris Rock. Two Oscars ago during the presentation of best documentary feature film, Smith slapped Rock across the face in response to a joke made about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Watching this go down live was insane. No one ever expected something like that to happen. To this day it’s a mystery as to why Smith crashed out and slapped Rock but it’s speculated to be his attempt to impress his wife. Smith’s career has been in shambles ever since.