The 2023 Oscars were full of laughs, tears and cheers throughout the night from the presenters, winners, host and Hollywood audience. From host Jimmy Kimmel‘s slapgate jokes to Michelle Yeoh making history with her best actress win amid a big night for best picture Everything Everywhere All at Once, here are some of the night’s most memorable moments.
Host Jimmy Kimmel Mocks Will Smith’s Oscars Slap
Host Jimmy Kimmel had a lot to say about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock during last year’s Academy Awards ceremony. His jokes started during the opening monologue of the Oscars telecast, with Kimmel alluding to the infamous moment while recognizing the Irish performers who were attending. “Five Irish actors are nominated tonight, which means the odds of another fight on stage went way up,” Kimmel quipped. The host went on to poke fun at the fact that Smith was given the opportunity to accept his best actor Oscar for King Richard at last year’s ceremony, despite his win taking place after he slapped presenter Rock. “We want you to have fun, we want you to feel safe, and most importantly, we want me to feel safe,” Kimmel said. “So we have strict policies in place. If anyone in this theater commits an act of violence at any point during the show, you will be awarded the Oscar for best actor and permitted to give an 19-minute-long speech.” Read more here. — Ryan Gajewski
A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once won best picture, one of seven Academy Awards it received — including prizes for its direction, original screenplay, editing and performances from actors Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis. The film’s star Yeoh won the Oscar for best actress, becoming the first Asian-identifying performer to win the prize and the first actress of color since Halle Berry — who won for Monster’s Ball in 2002 and presented the award to Yeoh with last year’s winner Jessica Chastain — to win the award. Read more here. — Aaron Couch
Michelle Yeoh Makes Oscars History With Win
In a four-decade career already marked by trailblazing and unprecedented achievement for female performers, Yeoh notched a big one when she became the first Asian woman to win the Academy Award for best actress. Yeoh’s Oscar-winning performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once was the first time the Malaysia-born actress had been No. 1 on a Hollywood call sheet, playing a struggling laundromat owner and lifelong loser who finds herself the savior of the multiverse (and learns to reconcile with her long-suffering husband and estranged daughter in the process). “Ladies, don’t let anybody tell you you are past your prime,” said Yeoh, who at 60 was the oldest nominee in her category. “For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities.” Read more here. — Rebecca Sun
Hugh Grant’s Awkward Red Carpet Interview with Ashley Graham
Hugh Grant and Ashley Graham’s interview on the 95th annual Academy Awards red carpet raised eyebrows. During ABC’s Countdown to the Oscars ahead of the ceremony, the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves actor appeared to be unamused by the model and co-host’s questions, and was left seemingly indifferent by the interaction. Read more here. — Carly Thomas
Ke Huy Quan Wins After Decades-Long Absence From Screens
A year ago, this sentence would have felt impossible: As predicted, Ke Huy Quan won an Oscar on Sunday night for his supporting actor performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once. For many, Quan’s appearance in the Daniels-directed, genre-breaking, sci-fi action-comedy — an unlikely awards contender in its own right — was the sudden reintroduction of a child star who had disappeared into pop culture history after a promising debut in 1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies a year later. But on the strength of his role — or make that roles, given EEAAO’s multiversal nature — as the alternately sweet/badass/debonair Waymond Wang, Quan became virtually the only lock this season. Still, presenter Ariana DeBose’s voice cracked as she announced his name at the Dolby Theatre. “My journey started on a boat,” said a tearful Quan, now 51, who was born in Vietnam during the war. “I spent a year in a refugee camp and somehow I ended up here on Hollywood’s biggest stage. They say stories like this only happen in the movies. I cannot believe it’s happening to me. This is the American dream!” Read more here. — Rebecca Sun
Navalny Director Daniel Roher Dedicates Best Doc Oscar to Political Prisoner
As Navalny won best documentary feature film, filmmaker Daniel Roher dedicated the award to the film’s namesake political prisoner and Putin critic while Alexei Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, told her husband to “stay strong.” After director Roher took to the Dolby Theatre stage with Yulia and his children, Dasha and Zakhar, he noted to the audience that the Russian opposition leader could not be present at the ceremony. (Navlany, a prominent critic of Vladimir Putin, has been imprisoned in Russia since March 2021 and has said he is in solitary confinement.) “I would like to dedicate this award to Navalny, to all political prisoners around the world,” said Roher in his speech. “Alexei, the world has not forgotten your vital message to us all. We cannot, we must not be afraid to oppose dictators and authoritarianism wherever it rears its head.” Read more here. — Katie Kilkenny
Lady Gaga Gives Powerful Performance
Lady Gaga won over the audience with a stripped-down version of her nominated song “Hold My Hand.” The Film Academy originally said Gaga wasn’t going to perform at the 2023 Oscars, but she showed up Sunday in strong form, sitting and holding her microphone closely while singing the track from Top Gun: Maverick. The end of the performance showed a photo of late director Tony Scott alongside Tom Cruise, with the words: “In memory of Tony Scott.” Read more here. — Mesfin Fekadu
Rihanna Delivers a Rousing Performance
Rihanna gave a memorable performance of the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever tribute song to Chadwick Boseman. The singer — who is pregnant and recently headlined the Super Bowl halftime show — stood in place onstage at the Dolby Theatre as she belted out “Lift Me Up,” nominated for best original song. She had an orchestra behind her, including several violinists and background singers, helping bring the ballad she co-wrote to life. Tems, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Göransson also worked on the track. Read more here. — Mesfin Fekadu
Cocaine Bear Joins Elizabeth Banks to Present Oscar
Elizabeth Banks had a special guest beside her when she presented the award for best visual effects to Avatar: The Way of Water. The Cocaine Bear filmmaker was joined by a person in a bear costume, noting that if it weren’t for visual effects teams, the bear in her film would’ve looked like the one standing beside her. “It’s terrifying,” Banks joked, as the mysterious person in the costume punched and kicked the air. “Stop it. No director wants to deal with this. OK, what are you doing?” she asked, as her co-presenter pointed at people in the audience and at his nose. Read more here. — Christy Piña
John Travolta Gets Emotional Introducing Lenny Kravitz for In Memoriam Performance
John Travolta choked up as he introduced the In Memoriam segment, which featured a performance by Lenny Kravitz. Before Kravitz performed, Travolta choked up as he paid a subtle tribute to Grease co-star Olivia Newton John: “They’ve touched our hearts. They’ve made us smile, and became dear friends who we will always remain hopelessly devoted to.” Kravitz sang and played piano as photos of famous faces who recently passed appeared on the large screen, also including Burt Bacharach, Ray Liotta, Kirstie Alley, Irene Cara, Mary Alice, Raquel Welch, Nichelle Nichols and many others. Read more here. — Mesfin Fekadu
Ruth E. Carter Makes History With Win for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Ruth E. Carter won her second statuette for her imaginative costume work on the futuristic Marvel film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. This marked Carter’s second Oscar win for best costume design. She previously won an Oscar in 2019 for Marvel’s Black Panther, becoming the first-ever Black woman to take home the statuette for costume design. She now becomes the first Black woman to be a two-time winner in any category, and joins only four other Black winners to have two competitive Oscars (Denzel Washington, Willie D. Burton, Russell Williams II and Mahershala Ali). She also becomes the first person to win a costume design Oscar for designing both an original film and its sequel. Read more here. — Degen Pener
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