Al Pacino’s Controversial Announcement at the Oscars: Why Did He Skip the Best Picture Nominees?

2024-03-12 20:03:00
In the last category of the Oscars, Al Pacino revealed the winner before even introducing the nominees

During the 96th Academy Awards, multi-award-winning actor Al Pacino was chosen to announce the winner for Best Picture. However, his participation gave a lot to talk regarding because the actor decided to omit all the nominees for the most important category at the award ceremony and directly revealed that Oppenheimer had kept the coveted statuette.

“The time has come for the last award of the night and it is my honor to present it. Ten wonderful films were nominated, but only one will take home the best film award. And for that I have to go to the envelope. And I will…. here it comes. And my eyes see Oppenheimer,” Al Pacino simply said, leaving the audience in shock.

The moment quickly went viral and many social media users joked that Pacino did it on purpose so he might go home earlier. Others defended the actor by reiterating his status as one of the greatest figures in Hollywood, and therefore, he might do whatever he wanted.

Jimmy Kimmel, presenter of the Oscars, considered that Al Pacino had never seen one of these ceremonies considering his carelessness EFE/EPA/Caroline Brehman

Even Jimmy Kimmel, host of the Oscar Awards for the fourth time, shared his surprise at seeing that Al Pacino did not follow the rules that have been maintained for almost 100 years at the most important film awards ceremony.

“I guess he’s never seen an awards show,” Kimmel said of the Oscar-winning actor. “It seems like everyone in America knows the beat of how it’s supposed to go… right down to ‘And the Oscar goes to…’ But not Al Pacino! God bless you”.

In the midst of all this controversy, Al Pacino shared a statement with ABC News to clarify the real reasons behind the omission of the Best Picture nominees.

The actor assured that it was not his decision to take center stage from the films that did not win the Oscar, but rather that of the producers of the event who considered that all of them had had their moment of glory throughout the night.

“I just want to make it clear that it was not my intention to omit them, but rather a choice by the producers so that they were not mentioned once more, since they were highlighted individually throughout the ceremony,” Al Pacino explained in a statement Chris Pizzello/ Invision/AP

“There seems to be some controversy over the fact that he didn’t mention each film by name last night before announcing the best picture award. I just want to make it clear that it was not my intention to omit them, but rather a choice by the producers so that they were not said once more, since they were highlighted individually throughout the ceremony,” Pacino declared.

The actor reiterated his empathy with the nominees who were not mentioned, in addition to issuing an apology to those who felt slighted by this decision.

“I realize that being nominated is a huge milestone in one’s life and not being fully recognized is offensive and hurtful. “I say this as someone who relates deeply to filmmakers, actors and producers, so I deeply empathize with those who have felt slighted by this oversight and that is why I have felt the need to make this statement.”

The award for Best Original Song, presented by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, also did not review the nominees because all the songs were performed live during the ceremony REUTERS/Mike Blake

It should be noted that this was not the only category of the night where not all nominees were named before the winner. When Wicked stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo announced Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell as winners of Best Original Song, the nominees were also not reviewed, because all the songs in the shortlist were performed live that night.

1710282320
#Pacino #explained #mention #nominees #presented #award #Picture #Oscars