Recently, the Academy has confirmed that a crisis team will be put in place will handle any real-time incidents that might take place in this year’s Oscars. In a statement given to Time Magazine, Academy chief executive Bill Kramer said that the new team had run many scenarios and hoped that they will be “prepared for anything” to happen this year. He also added that “Because of last year, we’ve opened our minds to the many things that can happen at the Oscars.”
Why have precautions been taken?
Such precautions are being taken after the groundbreaking incident that took place at last year’s Oscars. Will Smith, slapped comedian Chris Rock. This slap occurred after Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head, which she had shaved after receiving an alopecia diagnosis.
Smith, that night, was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in the movie ‘King Richard’, which he subsequently won.
The aftermath of the incident and the Academy’s response
According to Academy president Janet Yang, the Academy’s response to the altercation between Smith and Rock was not promptly done.
Shortly after the incident, the Academy announced that they were carrying out internal inquiries and investigations to decide what their next steps would be. Shortly, Smith resigned from the Academy, and the Academy also decided against banning Smith from the Oscars gala and other Academy events for 10 years.
The crisis team, has apparently, been already working on stating after the internet went into an uproar following Andrea Riseborough’s surprise nomination. Trade experts and fans have constantly been questioning the validity of her nominations and the Academy’s overall rules about campaigning.
Past cases
This was not the first time an event of this proportion had happened at the Oscars. In 2017, when it was the time for the Best Picture winner to be announced, the presenters, Faye Dunaway, and Warren Beatty had incorrectly announced that the film ‘La La Land’ had won the Oscar. Two minutes later, after 2 of the 3 producers had already delivered their acceptance speeches, the technical crew confirmed that it was a mistake and ‘Moonlight’ had won.
In 2017, the Oscars were hosted by late-night show host Jimmy Kimmel and at the time of the misunderstanding, he came up and clarified and addressed the misunderstanding head-on. This year again, Jimmy Kimmel returns to host the Oscars for the third time.
The Oscars ratings have been progressively sinking to the lowest of low in the show’s 90-year history. Though last year managed to pull in more viewers than the one before that, most of the new viewers could be attributed to the ‘slap incident’. For the past two years, the Academy had been in a constant effort to change and effectively shorten the period of the ceremony. This last year, they also decided to cut 8 technical categories to keep the running time short. But this again invited a host of criticisms from film fans, claiming that this step ultimately insulted the technicians working behind the camera.
Nowadays there has been an increasing debate among film fans on whether these award shows recognize movies or not, or whether they are simply an outlet for the best of the best to come out to the Dolby Theatre to indulge in a night of glitz and glam. After last year, both the ‘slap incident’ and the exclusion of the 8 technical categories, people are questioning the validity of such events.
But CEO Bill Kramer and new president Janet Yang have been diligently working on their months-long campaign to ensure that the mistakes of the past are not repeated and the pulse of the ceremony isn’t lost, which is a night of celebrating the art of film-making and the people who make it all happen.
