- The Academy Awards have seen some drama over the years
- They have included political protests and slaps
- The 2025 Oscars will held on 2 March 2025
The 2025 Oscars are the crown jewel of the Hollywood award season.
The 97th Academy Awards are set to take place on 2 March in a glitzy ceremony hosted by Conan O’Brien. Aspects of the lead-up have been hindered due to the deadly wildfires, but it all seems set to take place as usual.
Read more: Everything we know about the Oscars 2025
However, ‘things as normal’ doesn’t always always cancel out the possibility of drama. Considering it’s been going on for nearly a century, there has been ample, from the bit awkward to the downright political.
Here are some of the most controversial moments in Academy Award history to mark the upcoming 2025 Oscars.
Daniel Kaluuya mentions his parents’ love life
Following being named the Best Actor for Judas and the Black Messiah in 2022, Daniel Kaluuya lowered the tone a bit when he thanked his parents for getting it on so he could be born.
Joaquin Phoenix coming for the dairy industry
When Joaquin Phoenix won for Joker, he used his stage time to lambast people’s “egocentric worldview” and how they “plunder” nature while having particular ire for the dairy industry’s treatment of cows.
Barbra Streisand and Katherine Hepburn tying for Best Actress
In 1969, The Academy couldn’t pick one Best Actress winner, so they opted to give it to both Funny Girl’s Barbra Streisand and The Lion In Winter’s Katharine Hepburn.
Warren Beaty’s Best Picture mix-up
Warren Beatty reading out La-La Land instead of the rightful Best Picture winner, Moonlight, at the 2017 ceremony prompted one of the most awkward moments in the award’s history.
Read more: 2025 Oscars nominations hosts revealed
Marisa Tomei’s Oscar win
People rather rudely thought it was a mistake when Marisa Tomei’s name was read out as the winner of Best Supporting Actress for her turn in the 1992 legal comedy-drama My Cousin Vinny.
Adrien Brody planting one on Halle Berry
Fresh off his The Pianist win, Adrien Brody raised quite a few eyebrows when he passionately kissed Halle Berry at the 2003 Academy Awards.
Jennifer Lawrence doing a faceplant
The 2014 Oscars for Jennifer Lawrence probably should be remembered for Best Actress win, but instead, it will most likely be her fall collecting the award for Silver Linings Playbook.
Angelina Jolie confessing her love for her brother
Angelina Jolie left a bit of an icky feeling in the showbiz collective’s stomachs when she used her Girl, Interrupted Best Supporting Actress to say she was “in shock and so in love with my brother right now” in 2000.
Patricia Arquette pleading for gender pay equality
In 2015, Patricia Arquette used her Boyhood win to advocate for equal pay for women to rapturous applause from many, including Meryl Streep.
Marlon Brando refusing his win
Marlon Brando refused to even attend when he won for The Godfather and sent Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather to decline the honour because of “the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry” in 1973.
John Travolta mispronouncing Idina Menzel’s name
When John Travolta was confronted with Idina Menzel’s name on a teleprompter, he went down in Oscars infamy for giving her the accidental nickname of ‘Adele Dazeem’.
Chris Rock’s award joke about racism in Hollywood with Stacey Dash
It was a bit crickets when host Chris Rock brought out Clueless star and Fox News contributor Stacey Dash to make a joke about being the head of the Oscars “new minority outreach program”.
The streaker’s unwelcomed stage spot
As you would be, David Niven was taken aback when Robert Opel stormed the stage completely naked at the 1974 ceremony.
Frances McDormand demanding an “inclusion rider”
Frances McDormand urged her fellow acting talent to push for more diversity on sets when she won Best Actress for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
Tatum O’Neal winning an Oscar at 10 years old
Tatum O’Neal still holds the youngest-ever winner at the Oscars after she snagged the Best Supporting Actress award for Paper Moon in 1974.
Will Smith slapping Chris Rock
Despite the Best Actor win for King Richard, Will Smith was banned from the ceremony for ten years after slapping the host, Chris Rock, in 2022 after he made a joke at his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith’s expense.
