The first post-pandemic Academy Awards certainly wasn’t without drama.
No face masks or social distancing this year: instead, the night was full of noteworthy moments and history-making winners.
While the internet swooned over tween heartthrob Timothée Chalamet’s shirtless suit and Venus William’s very low-cut dress, it wasn’t all about the red carpet - the ceremony boasted plenty of its own talking points.
Girl power
This year’s ceremony was presented by the first-ever female trio to do so: Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall, who pulled no punches in their opening address.
“This year, the Academy hired three women because it was cheaper than hiring a man,” Schumer quipped – ouch.
The women also took the opportunity to get political and address Florida’s recent, controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
As their introduction concluded, Sykes, who came out as gay in 2008, added, “We’re gonna have a great night, and for you people in Florida, we’re gonna have a gay night.”
And what is any Oscars presentation without an awkward skit? This year’s focussed on Samuel L. Jackson’s recent honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement, with the women poking fun at the lack of range in his films.
Anybody for a Samuel L. Jackson rom-com called Bitch, I Said I Love You? We’re here for it – and, surprisingly, so was he.
Beyoncé dominates the court
It’s the look we never knew we needed: Beyoncé, dressed in neon green (can we expect an Ivy Park drop sometime soon?), singing on a tennis court.
There was a reason for it, of course. Queen Bey – who is herself nominated for an award for Best Original Song – was opening the Oscars with her song Be Alive from biopic King Richard, which tells the story of Venus and Serena Williams’s tennis coach father.
To cap things off, the whole thing was filmed from a tennis court in the Williams sisters’ hometown, Compton.
Eagle-eyed watchers would have spotted Bey’s daughter Blue Ivy, who took centre stage towards the end of the song.
For everybody else, we’re predicting neon green will be the summer’s next fashion trend.
Will Smith kicks off
In the most chaotic moment since La La Land was mistakenly named Best Picture, Will Smith stormed the stage and took a swing at presenter Chris Rock. He was riled by a joke that Rock, on stage to present the Documentary award, made about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith.
“Jada, I love you. GI Jane 2, can’t wait to see you,” Rock quipped, prompting Smith to storm the stage and slap him.
Jaws swiftly dropped even further when Smith shouted “keep my wife’s name out your f**ing mouth” twice from his seat.
“Wow, Will Smith just smacked the s*** out of me,” a shaken Rock told the audience, before pressing on, remarking: “That was the greatest night in the history of television.”
To make things more awkward, Smith then went onto win the award for Best Actor for King Richard, tearfully apologising to the Academy Awards as he did so.
“To do what we do, you got to be able to take abuse,” he said, adding, “Love will make you do crazy things.”
Latin night
To groans from parents everywhere, Oscar viewers were treated to a double whammy of Encanto songs: the moving Dos Oruguitas, or Two Little Caterpillars, which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song – and the dreaded earworm We Don’t Talk About Bruno.
The latter featured members of the Encanto cast, a bevy of backing dancers, and, bizarrely, Megan Thee Stallion, who rapped along to the song dressed all in gold. We’re not sure how much it added, but it certainly made an impression.
The only downside: composer Lin-Manuel Miranda was not present at the ceremony due to his wife testing positive for Covid. The dreaded ‘rona strikes once more.
A West Side Story to remember
West Side Story received deserved recognition for one of its standout performances. Ariana DeBose completed her slaying of the awards trail with a win for Best Supporting Actress, making her the second Anita to win one (the first being Rita Moreno, sixty years ago: a tough act to follow). It also makes her the first openly queer woman of colour to win an Oscar.
“Even in this weird world that we live in, dreams do come true,” the Afro-Latina actress told the audience, reflecting on her past growing up as an "openly queer woman of color, an Afro-Latina, who found her strength through art."
We’re not crying, you’re crying.
A win for diversity
Alongside DeBose, the other notable wins of the night went to deaf-language film CODA, where, alongside winning the award for Best Picture, Troy Kotsur made history as the first deaf male actor to win an Oscar. Cue the moving sight of the entire Oscars audience applauding in sign language.
“I cannot believe I’m here,” Kotsur signed in his acceptance speech. “It’s really amazing that our film CODA has reached out worldwide.”
He then brought the tone down a bit by revealing that the cast of CODA had been invited to the White House and to meet the Bidens. “I was planning on teaching them some dirty sign language but Marlee Matlin told me to behave myself,” he added.
“Don’t worry Marlee, I won’t drop any f-bombs in my speech today.”
Disney princesses take to the stage
Disney welcomed a new princess into the fold as future Ariel Halle Bailey took to the stage alongside Lily James and Naomi Scott, who played Cinderella and Jasmine in the live-action films.
“Soon, Halle will join the club as Ariel in the Little Mermaid,” Scott told the audience, introducing the singer. “Welcome, babe.”
It was a big night for Bailey: alongside serving some seriously Little Mermaid-inspired vibes in her teal dress, it also happened to be her first Oscars – and 22nd birthday. If you’re going to celebrate, do it in style.
