To the delight of fans, the Academy Awards featured past winners returning to personally introduce each nominee in the four acting categories. However, this nostalgic revival of the format wasn't without its share of awkward moments.
As anticipated, Robert Downey Jr. won Best Supporting Actor award for "Oppenheimer" and was joined on stage by five previous winners: Sam Rockwell, Tim Robbins, Christoph Waltz, Mahershala Ali, and last year's recipient, Ke Huy Quan.
If you follow the Oscars, you’ll know it’s tradition for the last person who won the award to hand it over to the new recipient. However, Ke Huy and Robert didn’t quite have the sweet moment fans had been hoping for.
Following Ke Huy's announcement, RDJ approached the stage and collected the Oscar without even acknowledging the former winner with eye contact. Despite Ke Huy's evident excitement in presenting him with the statue, Robert immediately bypassed him and proceeded to shake hands with Tim Robbins and fist-bump Sam Rockwell, leaving Ke Huy holding onto the envelope he had attempted to hand over.
"He handed him the award with a huge smile, yet Robert blatantly ignored him. Being a big star doesn't guarantee humility and grace."
In his speech, RDJ made no mention of Ke Huy, other than thanking the “fellas” onstage behind him. And it wasn’t long before fans picked up on the awkwardness, with viewers accusing him of showing “a real lack of class” toward his predecessor.
Many individuals, questioning why RDJ would "blatantly ignore" Ke Huy, expressed heightened disappointment, especially considering the former winner's evident excitement, only to be left hanging.
Nevertheless, the on-stage interaction has sparked discussions among social media users. They drew parallels between Downey's perceived conduct and Iron Man, the quick-witted and egotistical Marvel superhero he portrayed from 2008 to 2019.
Fans on X remarked that Quan 'called his name with such pure excitement and appreciation,' with one person expressing disappointment that the 'Avengers' actor 'blatantly ignored' him," one user commented. Others labeled the action as 'arrogant' and 'disappointing to watch.'
"For someone who wants to move past Iron Man, that was very Iron Man-like of him, from expression to body language to arrogance," another user stated on X, formerly Twitter.
"He looks so happy for him, and the sheer confusion when he just gets ignored is breaking my heart... I don't know what happened, but ugh, it's not a good look," another user lamented.
A similar incident unfolded when Emma Stone, who won Best Actress in a Leading Role for "Poor Things," appeared to walk past Michelle Yeoh, the previous year's winner in the same category, on her way to accept the award. Yeoh had co-starred with Ke Huy Quan in "Everything Everywhere All at Once," which won seven Oscars in 2023.
In a video clip of the moment, Stone seemed to say thank you twice as she accepted the award from Yeoh but only paused to hug Sally Field and Jennifer Lawrence. Yeoh silently mouthed, "Come," then passed the statue to Lawrence, who was a longtime friend of Stone's, and Lawrence subsequently handed it to Stone. After concluding her speech, Stone retraced her steps to acknowledge Yeoh, as well as presenters Charlize Theron and Jessica Lange.
While some individuals defended Robert by suggesting that he may have been "overwhelmed" and "flustered" during such a significant moment, plenty of others compared his actions to those of Cillian Murphy. Murphy, a first-time nominee and winner, accepted his award for Best Actor with "warmth and respect" by individually shaking hands with each of the presenters onstage.
One clip of Cillian was captioned on X, 'HIM BEING THE NICEST AND MOST POLITE MAN IN THE WORLD SHAKING EVERYONE’S HAND,' amassing over 35,000 likes.
The truth behind the incident may forever remain unknown, as both parties involved are seasoned veterans in the entertainment industry. During the heightened observation of the Oscars, RDJ's actions must have been carefully considered. We can only hope that, even if Downey's actions were staged, they were done so with the utmost goodwill and attention towards Ke Huy Quan.
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