Oscars viewers furious after huge stars missed out of 'In Memoriam' section

That's another year of the Oscars wrapped up and done with, and it was a night of triumph for One Battle After Another and Sinners as they picked up several golden statues.

There's plenty of the trophies to be taken home, though of course those doing the taking can't just do whatever they want with their awards otherwise a bunch of them would end up on eBay.

However, just as it was a night for celebrating those who were in the room the Oscars also has an 'In Memoriam' section for those who are no longer in the land of the living.

The likes of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele, Home Alone star Catherine O'Hara and screen icon Diane Keaton were featured in the tribute, but there's almost always complaints from the crowd over who didn't make it into the segment.

Some viewers argued that the Oscars had missed out on names such as Eric Dane, Dawson's Creek star James Van Der Beek and the French actor Brigitte Bardot.

They called the lack of tributes for these names a 'pretty astounding miss' as others wondered how the Oscars 'get this wrong every year'.

While some slammed it as a 'disgrace' and a 'total shame' that these names had not made it into the tribute reel, others argued back that the likes of Dane and Van Der Beek were 'TV actors' .

As for Bardot, a tribute to her at the Césars, France's answer to the Oscars, was booed and greeted with a shout of 'racist'.

The actress was convicted five times of inciting racial hatred, so the Academy may have been looking to avoid controversy.

As for how the Oscars chooses who gets to be on their 'In Memoriam' section, Entertainment Weekly explained there is a committee made up of members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

They get hundreds of submissions for people in the world of film who have passed away and could be honoured at the Oscars.

The committee have to whittle down that list of hundreds into about 40, meaning that many people who are considered for an honour do not end up making the final tribute.

The decision on who gets in depends on their contribution to filmmaking and is up to the committee, while there will always be people who think the Oscars ought to have honoured someone in particular.

Once a list of around 40 names has been put together that's given to the producers who then create the 'In Memoriam' film, which is done several weeks before the Oscars goes ahead.

As such, those who die in the weeks ahead of the awards ceremony might miss out due to time.

The Academy can request late additions in the event that someone they thought really should be part of the tribute passes away once the tribute reel is ready to go.

Ultimately, there will always be some names left out.

Oscars 2026 recap

It’s a wrap for the glitziest night in showbiz - here’s everything that happened on Hollywood’s biggest night.

Timothée Chalamet roasted

In comments that may have cost him his first Oscar, Chalamet said in a conversation with Matthew McConaughey for Variety: “I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera where it’s like, ‘Hey! Keep this thing alive, even though no one cares about this anymore.'”

The 30-year-old was widely considered a frontrunner for Best Actor, but lost out to Michael B Jordan, while Marty Supreme walked away empty-handed following nine nominations.

Chalamet, who attended the ceremony with his girlfriend Kylie Jenner, was roasted twice.

Host Conan O’Brien quipped in his opening monologue: “Security is extremely tight tonight. I’m told there are concerns about attacks from both the opera and ballet community.”

Chalamet was seen laughing along.

Then later in the night, Alexandre Singh, co-director of one of the two winning short films, Two People Exchanging Saliva, also shaded Chalemet, saying in his acceptance speech: “Maybe it takes 10 years’ time, but we can change society through art, through creativity, through theatre and ballet, and also cinema.”

History-making Oscars tie

Last night saw the seventh-ever tie in Oscars history, as both Two People Exchanging Saliva and The Singers shared the award for Best Live-Action Short Film.

Presenting the award, actor and comedian Kumail Nanjiani quipped: “It's a tie, I'm not joking, it's actually a tie. Ironic that the short film Oscar's going to take twice as long.”

The other six times this has happened are in 1932 for Best Actor (Fredric March for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Wallace Beery for The Champ), 1950 for Best Documentary Short Subject (A Chance to Live and So Much for So Little), 1969 for Best Actress (Katharine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter and Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl), 1986 for Best Documentary Feature (Artie Shaw: Time is All You've Got and Down and Out in America), 1995 for Best Live Action Short Film (Trevor and Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life); and most recently 2013 for Best Sound Editing (Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty).

Bridesmaids reunion - but one person is missing

Fifteen years on from the beloved comedy, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Rose Byrne, Ellie Kemper and Maya Rudolph took to the stage to present the award for Best Score.

Performing a comedy skit, the actors pretended to receive notes from some of the big-name nominees.

Rudolph joked: “Mine says, 'First of all, you ladies look extremely beautiful tonight.' Thank you. 'You’re aging well.' Signed, Stellan Skarsgård.”

McCarthy quipped: “Mine is almost impossible to read. The handwriting is really pretty terrible. Says, ‘Hi, I’m with Stellan Skarsgård, writing my own separate note.

“‘I also agree you ladies look radiant. All the things you’ve done to your faces are very tasteful. Yours truly, Elle Fanning.’

“Wait, wait, there’s more. It says, ‘Just kidding. It’s me again, Stellan Skarsgård.’”

Wendi McLendon-Covey, who played Rita in the film, was noticeably absent. She later said she was recovering from a neck lift.

Where was Sean Penn?

Sean Penn won his third Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his hilarious and terrifying portrayal of Colonel Lockjaw in One Battle After Another, but he was nowhere to be seen at the ceremony

Accepting the award on his behalf, Kieran Culkin joked: “Sean Penn couldn’t be here this evening, or didn’t want to, so I’ll be accepting the award on his behalf.”

The New York Times reports - citing two sources familiar with the situation - that Penn was actually in Ukraine instead.

He has been a vocal critic of Russia’s invasion, making the documentary Superpower about it in 2022.

He’s firm friends with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and even gave him one of his Oscar statuettes as a gift. Zelenskyy promised to return it when the war was won.

Amy Madigan and Autumn Durald Arkapaw smash records

While One Battle After Another was the night’s big winner, history was made in several other categories.

Amy Madigan, who took home Best Supporting Actor for her performance as fashion icon and child abductor Aunt Gladys in Weapons, broke the record for the longest time between Oscar nominations.

It’s been 40 years since his first nomination for Twice in a Lifetime in 1986, which ended up going to Anjelica Huston for Prizzi’s Honor.

She said in her acceptance speech: “This is great. Everybody's asking me, 'Well, it's been 40 years, what's different about this time?' Different is I have this little gold guy!"

Autumn Durald Arkapaw took home the Oscar for Best Cinematography for Sinners. She is the first woman and the first black person to win the award.

She said in her speech: “I’m so honored to be here and I really want all the women in the room to stand up because I feel like I don’t get here without you guys.”

She also thanked Rachel Morrison in her speech, a cinematographer who was nominated in 2018 for Mudbound, but lost out to Roger Deakins for Blade Runner 2049.