An Oscars Producer Apologized For Putting Al Pacino In A “Tough Spot” After He Was Accused Of Intentionally Skipping The Best Picture Nominees
There were a ton of talking points from Sunday’s Oscars, and one of the most memorable moments came courtesy of Al Pacino.
As you’ll probably know, Al made a special appearance at the end of the night to hand out the final award for Best Picture — and it’s safe to say that his presenting approach sparked quite the conversation.
In case you’ve not seen it, the iconic actor strolled onto the stage to thunderous applause and started off by quoting Shakespeare. Then, without listing the ten nominees, he promptly announced the winner in a way that left everyone momentarily baffled.
Instead of saying, “and the Oscar goes to…,” and simply reading the name of the winning film, Al declared: “My eyes see Oppenheimer,” which was followed by an awkward pause in the room while the audience processed the unusual delivery.
The confusion surrounding Al’s Best Picture reveal wasn’t helped by the fact he didn’t announce the nominees beforehand, as is the standard procedure. And it wasn’t long before viewers started speculating that he’d taken it upon himself to skip that part on purpose.
“Al Pacino did not give a fuck and didn't read the nominees that's a true 83 year old man,” one person wrote on X, amassing more than 100,000 likes.
“they spent 20 minutes announcing nominees for every acting category and then al pacino just walks out, says 5 words, and opens the envelope for best picture like ‘here, damn,’” added another.
“Gotta give it to Al Pacino. Doesn't waste time with the nominees,” said someone else. “Goes straight to the envelope and names the winner for Best Picture.”
Before long, Al quickly addressed the “controversy” by issuing a statement confirming that it was not his call to exclude the list of nominees.
“There seems to be some controversy about my not mentioning every film by name last night before announcing the best picture award,” the actor said in a statement reported by Variety. “I just want to be clear it was not my intention to omit them, rather a choice by the producers not to have them said again since they were highlighted individually throughout the ceremony.”
He continued by saying he felt “honored to be a part of the evening,” and “chose to follow the way they wished for this award to be presented.”
“I realize being nominated is a huge milestone in one’s life and to not be fully recognized is offensive and hurtful,” he added. “I say this as someone who profoundly relates with filmmakers, actors and producers so I deeply empathize with those who have been slighted by this oversight and it’s why I felt it necessary to make this statement.”
And amid all the conversation, Oscars producer Molly McNearney confirmed it was “a creative decision” not to have Al read the nominees because they were “very worried that the show was going to be long.”
“By the time you get to the end of the show, you’ve seen all ten best picture clip packages. People just want to hear who wins, and they’re pretty ready for the show to be over. At least that’s what we anticipated,” she said, taking ownership of the fact that the creative call inadvertently put Al at the receiving end of criticism.
“We did not give him a clip package. We did not give him nominations to read,” she said. “I apologize if our decision to not have to read through all those nominations put him in a tough spot.”
That aside, Molly took a moment to address Al’s unusual way of announcing the winner, which she said “made it a little confusing.”
“But listen, that’s the excitement of live television,” she added. “You never know what you’re going to get exactly!”
Well, if Al’s eyes saw Oppenheimer, ours saw TV greatness, so we’re all winners. You can check out the rest of our Oscars content here.
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