We’re not going to forget Will Smith for bringing a violent streak to the recent edition of the Academy Awards for quite some time. Will Smith overshadowed performers and winners by slapping Chris Rock as the comedian made fun of his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Rock previously mocked her as well in what can only be described as a crude joke (read: just crude). Jada Pinkett Smith suffers from an autoimmune condition called Alopecia which causes hair loss. As the joke pertaining to her disease was made, Smith went on the stage and slapped him. Receiving his Oscar later for King Richard, Will cried tears of pearl but not for winning. He cried for the now infamous slap heard pretty much around the world. It was like an episode from Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Aside from Will Smith's behaviour, we recount some Oscar highlights over the years...

Leonardo DiCaprio
(finally) winning an Oscar for The Revenant

For a man who has excellent performances such as The Aviator, The Great Gatsby, The Wolf of Wall Street, J. Edgar and The Departed to his credit, Leonardo DiCaprio won his first (and only) Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 2016 Oscars for The Revenant, a film where he was mauled by a bear and ate raw liver. Given what a method actor he can be, there is not much more he could do. And he won. On point as always, during his speech he spoke about climate change, an issue close to his heart but what was remarkable is how the actor was given a standing ovation by his peers, predecessors and successors. He should have a couple of Oscars by now but maybe fighting a bear is what appealed to the Academy.

Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga
performance made magic on the stage

Bradley Cooper directed A Star is Born and Lady Gaga went onto win an Oscar for the song ‘Shallow’ as she should have a year later. But during the Oscars, he also directed an intimate performance of the same song between Lady Gaga and himself on the stage. It was the same magic we first saw in the film and felt gobsmacked by Cooper’s ability to be a musician. And yes, it further sparked rumours that the two were together even if it was just shooting and promotional period of the film. The ‘Shallow’ performance is right up there with the preceding iconic ones. Also, a shout out to Adele who won for James Bond film Skyfall previously and performed the song at the Academy Awards.

Oscars 2022 killer jokes

Since we’re in the year 2022 and a ceremony did happen, there were some hilarious moments. Co-hosts Regina Hall, Wanda Skyes and Amy Shumer were not perfect but they killed it with some jokes. “After years of Hollywood ignoring women’s stories, we finally got a movie about the Williams sisters’... dad,” Amy Schumer said in her opening monologue and this zinger: “This year the Academy hired three women to host, because it’s cheaper than one man.”

From gender pay gap to white supremacy to LGBTQ+ rights and Leonardo DiCaprio’s young girlfriends, the trio did a good, if not great job.

Joaquin Phoenix’s acceptance speech from 2020

One of the most exciting actors to watch, Joaquin Phoenix broke the jinx and won Best Actor in a Leading Role Oscar for a superhero film called The Joker. He broke the internet and his acceptance speech went viral when he said: “I’m full of so much gratitude now. I do not feel elevated above any of my fellow nominees or anyone in this room, because we share the same love – that’s the love of film. And this form of expression has given me the most extraordinary life. I don’t know where I’d be without it.

But I think the greatest gift that it’s given me, and many people in [this industry] is the opportunity to use our voice for the voiceless. I’ve been thinking about some of the distressing issues that we’ve been facing collectively. I think at times we feel or are made to feel that we champion different causes. But for me, I see commonality. I think, whether we’re talking about gender inequality or racism or queer rights or indigenous rights or animal rights, we’re talking about the fight against injustice. We’re talking about the fight against the belief that one nation, one people, one race, one gender, one species, has the right to dominate, use and control another with impunity.

I think we’ve become very disconnected from the natural world. Many of us are guilty of an egocentric world view, and we believe that we’re the centre of the universe. We go into the natural world and we plunder it for its resources. We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakeable. Then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf and we put it in our coffee and our cereal. We fear the idea of personal change, because we think we need to sacrifice something; to give something up. But human beings at our best are so creative and inventive, and we can create, develop and implement systems of change that are beneficial to all sentient beings and the environment. I have been a scoundrel all my life, I’ve been selfish. I’ve been cruel at times, hard to work with, and I’m grateful that so many of you in this room have given me a second chance. I think that’s when we’re at our best: when we support each other.” The full speech, as they say, broke the internet and rightly so.”