Oscars 2024: Seven scandalous moments from the Will Smith slap to the La La Land fiasco

From Will Smith’s infamous slap to a faux pas that saw La La Land incorrectly receive the award for Best Picture, the Oscars have seen many scandalous moments. Herald Entertainment writer Lillie Rohan looks at seven of the most jaw-dropping moments the Academy Awards has seen in recent years.

It’s one of the most polished award shows in Hollywood and most certainly the most prestigious, but even a well-directed show like the Oscars has seen a few blips in its time.

Having run for 94 years and counting, the Academy Awards is a night directors, producers, actors, actresses and all the cast and crew in between look forward to. Some lucky stars even hold their breath waiting to see if they will win an award, and sometimes, on a very rare occasion, they hold their breath waiting to see if a scandalous moment was scripted or authentically shocking.

So, as we prepare for another year of awards, we look back on the moments that have made our jaws drop. From Will Smith’s shock slap, to surprise kisses and everything in between.

Here are seven of the most scandalous Oscars moments:

Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie snubs, 2024

Ryan Gosling, Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig on the set of Barbie. Photo / Warner Bros.

One of the most reoccurring scandals to rock the Oscars came again this year when it was revealed Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie had been snubbed from major categories, despite their film Barbie earning eight Academy nominations. It’s not the first time a top-nominated film has seen shock snubbing and likely won’t be the last.

Robbie - who was denied a Best Actress nomination, spoke out not about her apparent snub but rather Gerwig’s Best Director snub confessing, “Obviously, I think Greta should be nominated as a director, because what she did is a once-in-a-career, once-in-a-lifetime thing, what she pulled off, it really is.”

Ryan Gosling - who played Ken in the film and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor also spoke out, confessing he was disappointed by the decision.

Meanwhile, an Oscars expert, Dave Karger, told People magazine: “It’s definitely not a good look that the Academy members left out Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie for directing and starring in a movie that’s largely about how impressive women are often marginalised,” adding, “Even though they both received nominations for their work on Barbie in other categories, these two high-profile omissions will be remembered — and they will sting — for a long time,”

In 1985, Steven Spielberg was snubbed for Best Director despite his film, The Color Purple, receiving 11 nominations.

Will Smith, Chris Rock slap, 2022

“Will Smith just smacked the sh*t out of me.”

It was a moment not a single soul saw coming - especially not Chris Rock. After making a joke about his friend, Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaven head, the King Richard actor stormed on stage, made a beeline for Rock and with an open hand, slapped him across the face.

“Keep my wife’s name out your f**king mouth,” Smith said once he’d sat back down, his stern face and aggressive tone making it clear to everyone in the crowd and those watching the livestream that the slap wasn’t a part of the act.

It was nearly two weeks before its board of governors voted to ban Smith from the Oscars and all other academy events for 10 years.

Smith had already preemptively resigned as an academy member and apologised to Rock, publicly admitting: “I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.”

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s chemistry, 2019

A Star is Born took over the movie world following its release in 2018. partly because it was a captivating story earning US$436.2 million ($714.1m) at the box office, and partly because of Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s on and off-screen chemistry.

Following months of affair rumours and the singer confessing she and Cooper had an “instant connection” that came “the second that I saw him”, they gave a jaw-dropping performance of the hit song Shallow at the 91st Academy Awards.

Complete with longing glances and their faces affectionately pushed together, the performance will go down as one of the most intimate the Oscars has ever seen and further fueled romance rumours.

When asked about it shortly after during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the Poker Face singer said “Yes, people saw love and—guess what—that’s what we wanted you to see,” as well as telling Elle magazine, “For me, as a performer and as an actress, of course we wanted people to believe that we were in love.”

La La Land, Best Picture mix-up, 2017

Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway took to the Oscars stage in 2017 to announce one of the biggest awards of the night, what happened instead was one of the biggest mistakes the Academy had ever seen.

Announcing La La Land as the winner of the prestigious Best Picture award, actors Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling took the stage alongside producers Mark Platt, Jordan Horowitz and Fred Berger to make their acceptance speeches, then the worst happened. It was revealed there was a mix-up with the winner’s envelopes.

Berger announces, “We lost,” the crowd gasps, “This is not a joke, Moonlight has won best picture,” he reiterated holding up the card stating Moonlight as the winner.

Following the mix-up, envelope accountants PriceWaterHouseCoopers issued a statement, taking full responsibility: “We sincerely apologise to Moonlight, La La Land, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for Best Picture,” their statement reads.

“The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred.”

Halle Berry and Adrien Brody kiss, 2003

In 2003, at the 75th Academy Awards when Halle Berry was presenting the winner of Best Actor to Adrien Brody for his role in The Pianist, the unexpected happened.

Instead of making an acceptance speech, Brody wrapped his hand around Berry’s head and pulled her in for a kiss on the lips causing the audience to erupt into laughter. Confusion over whether the lip-locking was planned or spontaneous wasn’t addressed until years later when the X-Men star appeared on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.

“That was not planned, I knew nothing about it,” Berry said adding, “I was like, ‘What the f**k is happening right now?’ That is what was going through my mind.”

She continued to say that she went along with it though because she knew how surreal it felt to win such a monumental award.

Elsewhere, Brody spoke to Vanity Fair in 2015 confessing he hadn’t seen the actress recently and went on to describe the kiss and Oscar win as “one of the most memorable moments ever”.

Angelina Jolie and James Haven’s kiss, 2000

Angelina Jolie with her brother James haven at the oscars, 2000 pic.twitter.com/9ymDeNlUmv

— 🍒 (@iseeyoughh) January 5, 2024

Angelina Jolie showed just how close she and her brother, James Haven, were at the Academy Awards in 2000.

Having just won Best Supporting Actress for her role in Girl, Interrupted, the star took the stage thanking the Academy for her award before sharing his love for her biological brother.

“I’m in shock, and I’m so in love with my brother right now,” she said adding, “He just held me and said he loved me, and I know he’s so happy for me. And, um, thank you for that.”

The siblings, whose parents are Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand, later appeared on the carpet where Jolie held her Oscar and shared a kiss on the lips. It provoked headlines all around the world with the actress later declaring it was nothing more than “brotherly” love.

Haven also defended the kiss in 2007 during an interview with the Daily Mail, “I did not give Angie a French kiss. It was something simple and lovely. She was about to go off to Mexico to finish filming Original Sin with Antonio Banderas,” he said adding, “I congratulated her on the Oscar win and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. It was snapped and became a big thing.”

The Streaker, 1974

1974 was a memorable year for the Oscars, as well as David Niven, John Huston, Burt Reynolds, and Diana Ross co-hosting the award show, the stage saw its very first - and last, streaker.

Robert Opal, an LGBT activist and teacher managed to enter the annual ceremony after posing as a journalist. Once side stage, he stripped down and ran across the stage naked making a peace sign with his fingers as Niven was introducing Elizabeth Taylor to present the Best Picture nominees.

Bursting into laughter, the actor joked to the audience “Well, ladies and gentlemen, that was almost bound to happen... But isn’t it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings?”

Taylor took to the stage moments later and told the crowd through laughter, “That’s a pretty hard act to follow”.

Lillie Rohan is an Auckland-based reporter covering lifestyle and entertainment stories who joined the Herald in 2020. She specialises in all things relationships and dating, Kiwi celebs we can’t help but love and TV shows you simply cannot miss out on.