The Oscars Face Annual Backlash Over ‘In Memoriam’ Omissions From Telecast: ‘A QR Code Is Not Acceptable’

Matt Webb Mitovich
·2 min read
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The family of at least one movie vet whose passing was not acknowledged during this year’s Oscars telecast wants the Academy to know where they can put their QR code.

Sunday night’s “In Memoriam” segment featured Lenny Kravitz performing “Calling All Angels,” while a big-screen slideshow behind him singled out nearly 60 industry vets who had died in 2022.

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As the three-minute roll call came to a close, a voiceover directed viewers to scan an on-screen QR code to be linked to an Academy website listing many more “gone but certainly not forgotten” “artists and filmmakers” — surely an attempt to stave off the annual criticism about In Memoriam “omissions.”

Among those not shown during Kravitz’s performance but instead accounted for on the Academy website were Paul Sorvino, Anne Heche, Fred Ward, Leslie Jordan, Tom Sizemore and Charlbi Dean (of 2023 Best Picture nominee Triangle of Sadness). And several others.

But being one thumbnail photo amid a grid of 250 was not commensurate recognition for Sorvino’s family.

Paul Sorvino, who died in July after dealing with health issues, “was one of the greatest actors in cinematic history in Hollywood. It is unconscionable that he would be left out of the In Memoriam segment of the Oscars,” his wife Dee Dee said in a statement cited by People. “It’s a three-hour show, they can’t give a couple more minutes to get it right? Paul Sorvino gave decades to this industry and was loved by all.”

“Paul was not the only deserving soul left out, and a QR Code is not acceptable,” Dee Dee continued. “The Academy needs to issue an apology, admit the mistake and do better.”

Sorvino’s Academy Award-winning daughter Mira also commented about the Goodfellas great’s omission, tweeting, “It is baffling beyond belief that my beloved father and many other amazing brilliant departed actors were left out. The Oscars forgot about Paul Sorvino, but the rest of us never will!!”

Launch Gallery: Oscars' In Memoriam: 5 Biggest Snubs

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