The Academy really did it: they somehow one-upped the bizarre ending to the 2017 Oscars, when Warren Beatty infamously announced the incorrect winner for Best Picture. Tonight’s show was off-kilter throughout, which is understandable given the pandemic we’re still living through; still, it was surprising when the Best Picture winner was announced before the Best Acting awards. At that point many assumed the producers made that switch so the show could end with Chadwick Boseman posthumously winning Best Actor for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Boseman was the prohibitive favorite to win, and it felt like a powerful and emotional way to end what had been a curiously flat and lifeless show. So it was pretty shocking when Anthony Hopkins—who wasn’t even there, or live via satellite like other nominees who couldn’t make it in person—was announced as the winner. It’s like the show realized how deflating that was, because it then went off the air in a hurry, like it was rushing to go hide its head in shame after publicly embarrassing itself. It made for some weird TV, as the whole show did; it also made for some really funny tweets.
There was way more to make fun of than just that shocking finale. This was an Oscars that saw Frances McDormand howl like a wolf while seeming totally bored by another victory, whose winners were basically allowed to speak for as long as they wanted without being played off, whose “in memoriam” segment moved as fast as the closing credits of a film being played on basic cable, and that made an instant meme of the octopus from Best Documentary Feature winner My Octopus Teacher. It didn’t look or feel like any other Oscars we’ve seen before, but it was still about as boring as unsatisfying as these shows always are. And it was still very easy to make fun of, which is the most important thing for our purposes. Here are the funniest tweets about tonight’s Oscars, from some of the best comedians and writers on Twitter. You should probably just go follow all of them right now.
If you’re extremely rich and good looking and can pretend you’re ugly for 90 minutes on film, you get an Oscar
If you’re me, and you can pretend you’re not extremely mentally ill for 8 hours a day, you get to keep your job
— John Vaccena (@mattytalks) April 26, 2021
There was no assigned host but Regina King walked in the room and everyone started clapping and it was too awkward not to hand it over to her.
— Louis Virtel (@louisvirtel) April 26, 2021
it may be oscar’s night to shine but it is my night to prepare mother’s rejuvenation creams
— dan chamberlain (@amfmpm) April 26, 2021
They finally figured out the Academy Awards. Eliminate everything except long acceptance speeches.
— Andy Kindler (@AndyKindler) April 26, 2021