Viewers in disbelief as Conan O’Brien fires shocking ‘paedophile’ joke at Drake live at Oscars ceremony
If you thought Drake’s year couldn’t get any worse, you were wrong.
Whether it be the Super Bowl halftime show centring around Kendrick’s now iconic diss track ‘Not Like Us’ or it becoming a multi-Grammy award winning track – Drake’s year has just gone from low to low.
Conan O’Brien piled on to this however, firing a shocking joke at Drake that even had viewers questioning whether they had heard him correctly.
O’Brien came out during the halfway point of the awards, joking about the Super Bowl halftime show.
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He said: “Well, we're halfway through the show, which means it's time for Kendrick Lamar to come out and call Drake a pedophile.”
The joke shocked viewers, with one saying: "DRAKE CATCHING STRAYS AT THE OSCARS TOO???????????"
Another said: "Not Drake catching strays at the Oscars as well."
A third tweeted: "Did Conan just say it’s time to for Kendrick to come up and call drake a pedophile."
'Not Like Us' by Kendrick Lamar was the culmination of a weeks long beef between Drake and Lamar in which each fired shots at one another.
Kendrick's diss track, however, became a global hit, with the line 'trying to strike a chord and it's probably A Minor' and 'certified lover-boy, certified paedophile' both going viral from the song.
Drake initiated a lawsuit following the song going viral, though not aimed at Lamar.
Instead Drake is suing his label Universal Music Group (UMG), which also represent Lamar.
His lawyers said in a statement: "UMG is masquerading as a champion of artistic freedom by calling its actions merely ‘entertainment,’ but there is nothing entertaining about pedophilia or child abuse in the real world.
"We are confident that the evidence we will ultimately present at trial—including information we’ve already learned and continue to receive since filing the lawsuit—will expose UMG’s gross prioritization of its own corporate profits and executive bonuses over its exclusively signed artists’ well-being and the truth."
UMG previously released a statement saying: "Not only are these claims untrue, but the notion that we would seek to harm the reputation of any artist—let alone Drake—is illogical.
"We have invested massively in his music and our employees around the world have worked tirelessly for many years to help him achieve historic commercial and personal financial success.
"Throughout his career, Drake has intentionally and successfully used UMG to distribute his music and poetry to engage in conventionally outrageous back-and-forth 'rap battles' to express his feelings about other artists.
"He now seeks to weaponize the legal process to silence an artist's creative expression and to seek damages from [Universal] for distributing that artist's music."
The most shocking Oscars moments ever
Angelina Jolie locks lips with her brother on the red carpet (2000)
A sweet shoutout from Jolie to her brother James Haven after winning Best Supporting Actress for Girl, Interrupted turned into something much more bizarre on the red carpet after the event.
Jolie said during her acceptance speech: "I’m in shock, and I’m so in love with my brother right now.
"He just held me and said he loved me, and I know he’s so happy for me. And, um, thank you for that."
So far so innocuous, but the pair then went on to lock lips on the red carpet after the ceremony in front of paparazzi.
Reflecting on the incident in 2007, James said: “I did not give Angie a French kiss. It was something simple and lovely. She was about to go off to Mexico to finish filming Original Sin with Antonio Banderas.
"I congratulated her on the Oscar win and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. It was snapped and became a big thing."
Adrien Brody surprises Halle Berry with a kiss after winning Best Actor (2003)
The last time Brody was up for Best Actor, he took Berry and everyone else by surprise when he passionately kissed her as she presented him with the award.
Berry said in 2017: “I was like, ‘What the f**k is happening right now?’ That is what was going through my mind.”
She was sympathetic for how the moment may have gone to Brody’s head, however, adding: “I was there the year before and I know the feeling of being out of your body, I just f**king went with it.”
On the campaign trail for The Brutalist this year, Bordy said of the moment in an interview with Variety: “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.”
John Travolta absolutely butchers Idina Menzel’s name (2014)
Most people would have no trouble pronouncing Frozen star Idina Menzel’s name, but John Travolta isn’t most people.
The Grease legend ended up calling her Adele Dazeem when welcoming to her onstage to perform. Quite how he arrived at that pronunciation is anyone’s guess.
Travolta later apologised, saying in a statement: “I've been beating myself up all day. Then I thought ... what would Idina Menzel say? She’d say, 'Let it go, let it go!'
“Idina is incredibly talented and I am so happy Frozen took home two Oscars Sunday night!"
The La La Land and Moonlight fiasco (2017)
Back in 2017, the most prestigious award of the night, Best Film, was about to be announced.
Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced the gong had gone to La La Land, the Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone musical which was widely considered the favourite to win.
Two and half minutes later, when the La La Land team were midway through their acceptance speeches, a producer on the film Jordan Horowitz was shown another envelope that revealed they hadn’t won after all.
There’s a mistake," he said. "Moonlight, you guys won Best Picture. This is not a joke.”
It turned out Beatty had somehow been handed the envelope for Best Actress, which went to Emma Stone for La La Land earlier in the evening.
It turned into a mortifying experience for all involved. Moonlight director Barry Jenkins said afterwards: “I noticed the commotion but I was speechless when the result was altered. I've never seen that happen before.”
The slap heard around the world (2022)
Easily the most dramatic thing to ever happen at the Oscars, Smith strode on stage and walloped presenter Chris Rock, after he made an ill-advised joke about the Men in Black star’s wife Jada Pinkett-Smith.
Rock said on stage: “Jada, can't wait for G.I. Jane 2,” a reference to her shaved head. Jada has been open about her struggles with alopecia, which made this a low blow in many people’s eyes.
Cue Smith striding on stage and smacking Rock, later yelling at him: “Keep my wife's name out of your f**king mouth.”
The upside of all this was that Smith was banned from attending the Oscars for 10 years, although he did awkwardly go on to pick up the award for Best Actor later that evening.
Smith apologised for his behaviour several times in the months following, saying: “One of the things about that moment, I just didn’t realise, I wasn’t thinking, but how many people got hurt in that moment.”
Topics: Drake, Super Bowl, Kendrick Lamar, Film, TV and Film, Celebrity, Oscars, Academy Awards
Michael Slavin