5 Oscars Controversies and Scandals We’re Still Talking About Today

The Academy Awards wouldn’t be the Academy Awards without the drama—and no, we’re not talking about the nominated films and TV shows. We’re talking about the controversies and scandals that still have us buzzing today. From announcing the wrong winner to slapping a presenter, the Oscars have given us plenty to chat (and procrastinate) about with our coworkers over morning coffee. 

Let’s revisit five Oscars controversies that still have us raising our eyebrows in disbelief. 

In 2017, La La Land was mistakenly announced as the winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture. The cast and crew started to say their thank-yous before the truth was revealed. The actual winner? Moonlight.

The mix-up happened because the presenters, Warren Beaty and Faye Dunaway, were handed the wrong envelope. It was the envelope for Best Actress, the award that had been given to La La Land’s Emma Stone before the Best Picture category.  

PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm that handled the Oscars envelopes, released a statement about the incident. “We sincerely apologize 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. The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected,” per Forbes. 

To say that we were shocked is an understatement during the 2022 Academy Awards when Will Smith slapped presenter Chris Rock, who was in the middle of presenting for Best Documentary Feature. The slapping incident is perhaps one of the most famous Oscars controversies. The reason? Rock made an unscripted joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith's shaved head.  

In his stand-up show, Selective Outrage, the comedian spoke at length about the incident. Rock said (via The Guardian), “Everybody knows, yes it happened, I got slapped a year ago – I got smacked by this motherf-----. And people are like, ‘Did it hurt?’ It still hurts. I’ve got 'Summertime' ringing in my ears.” He also revealed that the slap inspired the name of his show. 

“Will Smith practices selective outrage. Everybody knows what the fuck happened. And everybody really knows I had nothing to do with that shit.” He added, “Everybody in here has been cheated on. None of us have ever been interviewed by the person that cheated on us on television … She hurt him way more than he hurt me.” 

Smith later won Best Actor for King Richard. During his speech, he apologized to the Academy and the other nominees, but not to Rock. He apologized the next day via his social media platforms after receiving backlash. Smith also resigned from the Academy and was banned from attending the Oscars or any Academy event for 10 years. 

In 2000, after she won Best Supporting Actress for Girl, Interrupted, Jolie thanked her brother James Haven. Seemed normal right? However, after the ceremony, she demonstrated that love with a kiss on the lips, saying it was just “brotherly love.” The incident went viral and remains one of the most talked-about Oscars controversies. In a rare interview, Haven shared with 90who10 podcast host Jessica Entner (via Metro) about his relationship with his famous sibling.  

He said, “That’s so crazy thinking that but yeah, I think it’s just very natural [to feel protective], and I just want to be there,” referring not only to Jolie but also his nieces and nephews. He added, “I want to be there for them – or for her – whatever she’s going through. We have very mutual interests, especially if it focuses on how to help kids or stuff like that.” 

Over the years, Jolie has been involved in several controversies, including the infamous love triangle between her, Jennifer Aniston, and ex-husband Brad Pitt, as well as their tumultuous divorce. 

In another lip-locking Oscars controversy, Adrien Brody, having won Best Actor for The Pianist in 2003, embraced and kissed shocked presenter Halle Berry. He told The Union actress after, “I bet they didn’t tell you that was in the gift bag.” In an interview with Variety, Brody recalled the incident and said, “We live in a very conscious time, which is a wonderful thing. And nothing that I ever do or have done or would’ve done is ever done with the intention of making anyone feel bad.” 

It seemed, however, that there was no bad blood between the two. Berry, in good spirits, approached Brody on the red carpet at the 2025 Academy Awards for some “payback.” To her credit, Berry appeared to ask Brody’s partner, Georgina Chapman, for permission before planting a big kiss on him. It also seemed like fate that Berry got her “revenge” on the night Brody won Best Actor once again, this time for The Brutalist. 

Emilia Pérez's Karla Sofía Gascón made history as the first openly transgender actress to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She appeared on track to win her first Oscar after taking home the Best Actress awards at the Cannes Film Festival and the European Film Awards, until her old racist tweets resurfaced, sparking one of the most talked-about Oscars controversies in recent years.

Her problematic tweets included her issues of having more “Muslims in Spain,” calling George Floyd a “drug addict swindler,” tweeting that the 2021 Academy Awards is an “ugly, ugly gala” and even calling her Emilia Pérez co-star Selena Gomez a “rich rat who plays the poor b---- whenever she can.” 

Of course, the actress received backlash that the movie distanced itself from her, even if she’s the lead. The movie’s director Jacques Audiard also expressed his dismay that her controversy has taken up “all the space” and how Gascón’s “hurting people who were very close to her,” particularly him, the crew, her co-stars, “and all these people who worked so incredibly hard on this film.” 

Emilia Pérez led the Oscars 2025 nominations with 13 but only won in two categories, Best Supporting Actress for Zoe Saldaña and Best Original Song for “El Mal.”