According to theatre kids around the world, saying “Macbeth” in a theatre is considered bad luck. Moments before Will Smith got up and slapped Chris Rock, this year’s Oscars host, Rock uttered the fateful name while congratulating Denzel Washington on his role in Joel Coen’s adaptation of the Shakespeare play. Sure, it could have been bad luck. But it was more likely Rock making Jada Pinkett Smith – Red Table Talk host, Smith’s wife and alopecia sufferer – the butt of a joke.
It all happened so quickly: The camera pans from Smith’s laughing face to him walking up the stage and administering The Slap, before calmly heading back to his seat and later going on to win Best Actor for his role of Richard Williams in King Richard.
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Although The Slap was censored on American TV, other countries aired the whole thing, which by now you have watched it at least 12 times on Twitter, seen Lupita Nyong’o’s reaction and read countless bizarre takes on it all.
Naturally, The Slap stole the show. But tons of other interesting stuff happened at the 94th Academy Awards last night, from groundbreaking wins to wholesome moments.
A Beyoncé performance of ‘Be Alive’
Usually, a Beyoncé performance is the top of the news (AKA my Twitter feed) and this performance of “Be Alive” from King Richard shouldn’t have been any different. There was a horse. The actresses who play Venus (Saniyya Sidney) and Serena Williams (Demi Singleton) in King Richard appear next to Blue Ivy Carter, who, at age 10 is already performing at the Oscars. They all wore matching monochrome tennis ball outfits. This should have, by all rights, partly dominated news coverage – but it didn’t.
Liza Minelli and Lady Gaga Announcing Best Picture together
Very cute.
‘CODA’ wins Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay
It was a huge night for CODA, a family drama named after the term for “children of deaf adults”, which became the first film with an almost all deaf cast to win an Oscar. Troy Kotsur also won best supporting actor for his role in the film.
‘The Long Goodbye’ wins Best Live Action Short
Riz Ahmed has won his first Oscar! Ahmed co-wrote and starred in the film which uses his music and reflects on his identity as a British-Pakistani artist.
Ariana DeBose wins Best Supporting Actress
She became the first queer woman of colour to win an Oscar in her role as Anita in the West Side Story remake.
Jane Campion Wins Best Director
Campion became the third woman to win Best Director in Oscars history for The Power of the Dog and this time she didn’t make any “““jokes””” about the Williams sisters in her acceptance speech, like she did at the BAFTAs. Congratulations, Jane!
Billie Eilish wins Best Original Song
She also performed!
Liam Payne debuted a brand new accent
When this Good Morning Britain presenter pulled Liam Payne for an interview, it was supposed to be about The Slap and good vs. evil. Instead Payne decided to put on an accent that has notes of Irish and Italian but no Wolverhampton (where he is from) and flex about living next door to the Smiths, being in Men in Black 3 and that time One Direction sold out Madison Square Garden in New York .
From Memoir to First Book: The Julia Fox Story
My personal favourite moment, as always, is everybody’s muse Julia Fox just saying stuff. Here, she calls her unfinished book a masterpiece. Give Julia Fox back her moment!
