Highlights from the Crazy 2022 Oscars
By: Mallory Johnson
The Oscars were on Sunday, March 27th, and they were crazy! If you missed them, I have you covered with some highlights. Starting off the night with history, Ariana DeBose from West Side Story was the first openly queer woman of color to win an acting award. She won the award for Best Supporting Actor and gave a powerful speech about her queerness and her race. I am so happy she won, she definitely deserved it. Rachel Zegler, Maria from West Side Story, was originally not invited to the show but posted on social media about it and raised controversy. She was invited as a presenter and made a joke about while presenting, and I loved it!
Throughout the night, the sci-fi movie Dune swept up most awards. CODA (child of deaf adults) also swept up some awards, taking home the Oscar for the coveted Best Picture! They made history with these wins, and had interpreters on stage for acceptance speeches, as the movie is about deaf adults and the actors who portray them are too. A lot of history was made! I was very pleased with these wins and some speeches made me emotional.
Now, the most controversial part of the awards show and the elephant in the room: the incident with Chris Rock and Will Smith. Comedian Chris Rock was presenting an award for Best Documentary and made a problematic joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head, saying that he wanted her to star in a second G.I. Jane movie (Jane is bald in the first film). At first, Will was seen laughing at the joke, but Jada rolled her eyes very hard. Will must have noticed this and jumped up to defend his wife. He then stood up and walked onstage and SLAPPED Chris hard on the face. He sat down and Chris was in shock. The next part was muted on TV, but some viewers posted unedited clips on social media. Will yelled at Chris, “keep my wife’s name out of your effing mouth!” twice. He was furious and Chris was clearly flustered. Chris said something along the lines of, “well isn’t this the best night of television!” as a lighthearted joke to make the audience laugh again. He moved on and tried to present his award, but he messed up some of his lines. At first, I thought this was a scripted joke designed to stir up drama, but Will’s face said it all. He would have been laughing and moved on if he knew about it before. There are now countless memes and discussions about who was in the right about the situation. In my opinion, both were in the wrong because Jada has alopecia and has been vocal about her struggles with her hair. She was obviously very hurt by the joke, but violence is never the answer. Not even half an hour after the altercation, Will won Best Actor for his role in King Richard. He made an emotional speech and defended his actions because he will always stand up for his loved ones. He also basically apologized to everyone except Chris! Chris denied pressing charges for the assault last night.
Moving on, I am very disappointed that Andrew Garfield lost Best Actor and that his brilliant movie Tick Tick Boom lost Best Editing. Andrew put a lot of love, care, and grief into his role as Jonathan Larson. He even learned how to play piano and sing for this role! I am glad that Jessica Chastain won Best Actress for her role in The Eyes of Tammy Faye and used her speech to spread awareness about LGBTQ2S+ mental health issues and I LOVE how she thanked Andrew Garfield. Some of the jokes made by one of the hosts Amy Schumer were out of touch, especially when she joked that nominated actress Kirsten Dunst was just a seat filler. Kirsten’s husband Jesse Plemons looked awkward, disappointed, and hurt by it. Also, there was a long joke made by Regina Hall, that was basically sexual harassment and if the gender was swapped would not be acceptable at all.
In conclusion, the 2022 Oscars were very chaotic, and I cannot wait to see what the Grammy awards bring next Sunday, April 3rd!