Why everyone's complaining about the bizarre 2021 Oscars ending, explained
Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. Today, we’re breaking down the ending to the 2021 Oscars and explain why it feels like everyone’s mad about it.
That’s right, we have another Oscars ending that has turned into quite a thing. And in general, it was an Oscars pretty much like no other, with the ceremony celebrating the best in movies in Los Angeles’s Union Station, with nominees sitting at tables and some awkward moments.
But if you’re waking up this morning and wondering why there’s so much chatter about the ending, here you go.
What, did someone read the wrong winner again?
Nope, it wasn’t a La La Land debacle.
What could be weirder than that?
It had to do with the order of the awards. In years past, with some exceptions, the whole night leads up to the best actress and actor categories, best director and then it all crescendos to Best Picture.
I’m guessing that’s not what happened?
You nailed it. Best Picture got handed out to Nomadland … but THEN came best actress (Frances McDormand, for Nomadland) and best actor as the night’s final award.
What’s the big deal with that?
Because the late Chadwick Boseman was nominated for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and it felt like it was all but guaranteed that the terrific actor would be honored by his peers with an award for an incredible career that was cut way too short last year.
Did he win?
No. In a surprise, Sir Anthony Hopkins did for The Father. The thing is, he wasn’t there, so presenter Joaquin Phoenix accepted the award on his behalf, and that was the end of the night, an anticlimactic finale to say the least.
This #Oscars ending was worse than the La La Land / Moonlight fiasco.
This was ball on the one yard line and throwing an interception. pic.twitter.com/UGqU5ZsfXp
— Kevin Thang (@Skip2MyJays) April 26, 2021
You think the producers changed the order because they thought Boseman was going to win?
Possibly. It would make sense, right? What an ending that would have been, especially after Boseman won the Golden Globe.
I’m not taking ANYTHING away from Hopkins here. His performance was incredible. It’s just that if the planners of the evening thought Boseman would win and would create an all-time great moment, that backfired.
What did Hopkins eventually say?
He took to Instagram to deliver a speech early Monday morning and he immediately paid tribute to Boseman.