Oscar Acceptance Speeches Are Getting A Much-Needed Overhaul This Year
Producers for the Academy Awards telecast Reginald Hudlin and David Hall announced earlier this month that Oscar nominees have been asked to fill out a card with the names of the people they wish to thank. And should they win, those names will be displayed across the screen during their speech.
This is an attempt to avoid the numbing roll-call of agents, lawyers, managers, and producers that mean nothing to viewers at home, in favor of more heartfelt, off-the-cuff effusions of gratitude. It’s certainly a noble effort to allow winners to make better use of their 45-seconds onstage before the first few notes from the orchestra pit signal an impending dismissal.
However, everything that can go wrong most definitely will.
As great of an idea it is to scroll the names of those deserving a shoutout, the producers of the Oscars have on their hands a perfect storm of awkward moments: