By Yuval Israel, Year 11
Award ceremonies never fail to disappoint. From Robert Benigni at the 1999 Oscars, who climbed over the seats to reach the podium, or when Melissa Etheridge made her first appearance after fighting cancer at 2005 Grammys, this generation has seen it all.
These ceremonies capture moving moments between actors and create meaningful memories in the industry, which are all captured on a tiny screen to be “immortalized” and are broadcasted all over the world.
However, it doesn’t stop there, as unfortunately, some weird, shallow, and frankly awkward moments between celebrities are also immortalized. Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars, and Renée Zellweger’s poorly chosen moment to go to the lavatory while winning “Best Actress in a Motion Picture” in the 2001 Golden Globes come to mind as awards ceremony mishaps.
Flat monologues and flimsy jokes are also presented by hosts which often end up as just plainly crass and/or rude, which can affect the overall mood of the evening.
Anne Hathway and James Franco: 2011 Oscars
This disjointed duo made the audience of the 2011 Oscars doubt whether they even should have been put together in the first place.
With her cheery persona and his laid-back demeanour, the audience was left doubting if the mismatched chemistry between the hosts was on purpose, or just spontaneous, and whether this contributed to the evening’s definitively awkward atmosphere.
Seth Macfarlane: 2013 Oscars
Seth Macfarlane, the American director, actor, singer, comedian, and producer of the animated sitcom “Family Guy”, managed to depict an over-exaggerated and somewhat “stereotypical” on-screen society that produced a net worth of 2 billion dollars. Ingenious, young, and talented, Macfarlane was invited to host the 2013 Academy Awards where he crossed the line between class and crass.
Despite high ratings and countless nominations for his work, Macfarlane presented a wide range of crude and insensitive jokes, not to mention the music video he created titled “We saw your Boobs” which was for a sort of opening skit as “if the Oscars happened in an Alternate Universe”, and during the video he openly named actresses who were topless in scenes for sexual assault or scenes which were emotionally relevant for the movies they played in.
The opening musical number made the women of Hollywood feel humiliated, whereas even if it was out of “good humor”, as Macfarlane called it, it goes to show that even at the Academy Awards, a night of prestige and class, was turned into a personal stand-up comedy show. It might be noted no one laughed.
Jo Koy: 2023 (2024) Golden Globes
American stand-up comedian and actor Jo Koy hosted the recent Golden Globes after snatching the gig only ten days before the ceremony itself.
Although with not given ample time to prepare the speech of the century, one would have expected that the monologue would be delivered with a tad more elegance.
Stale and idle jokes were mainly directed at actors, largely referencing their looks and/or how they were represented in the movies/series. The monologue continued with the presentation of childish stereotypical quips, which again delivered very little reaction from the audience.
These being just a few of the unfortunate and uncomfortable moments at recent years’ awards ceremonies due to hosts, it does beg the question: what keeps going wrong?
