...
By Peter Aitken
Politics Weekend Editor
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Oscar's host Conan O'Brien made several small but pointed political jokes during his opening monologue at the awards show
He warned that the evening might get "political," but that if anyone felt "uncomfortable, there's an alternate Oscars being hosted by Kid Rock - it's at the Dave and Busters down the street. Lot of tickets to that."
Rightwing political and media figures had criticize the NFL for picking Bad Bunny to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show, leading to Turning Point USA to host its own show, the "All-American Halftime Show," which was headlined by Kid Rock.
Read More on Entertainment
Why It Matters
The Oscars often draw an immense crowd, with the 2025 Oscars pulling in 18 million viewers - although that marked the first time in over 40 years that the Oscars drew an audience below 30 million, with some arguing that the increased use of digital platforms might have dented the live TV figures.
With that major public platform, actors and presenters will use their opportunity to make political statements, although the hosts often stay away from more overtly political statements. O'Brien in comments to Rolling Stone earlier this year, talked about the nature of comedy in the face of an increasingly polarized political landscape, said that it has been "challenging" and that too many comedians have "put down your best weapon, which is being funny, and you've exchanged it for anger."
...
What To Know
O'Brien peppered his monologue with several political jabs, saying that last year - when he first hosted - Los Angeles was on fire, but "this year, everything is going great."
While he started with a more vague political joke, his further comments were more pointed, including a not-so-veiled reference to the Epstein files: O'Brien noted that for the first time since 2012, no British actors had been nominated for Best Actor or Best Actress, quipping that "a British spokesperson said, yeah, well, at least we arrest our pedophiles" - a reference to the fact that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew,had been arrested (and later released) over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Many in the United States have questioned why no action has been taken against figures who have appeared frequently in the files.
O'Brien also joked that he might be the last human to host the Oscars, saying that next year would see a "Waymo in a tux" - after the extensive and ongoing battle between the actor and writer guilds and the push from studios to adopt artificial intelligence as a major tool in filmmaking - and in a jab at Netflix, he also noted that CEO Ted Sarandos was in attendance, marking "his first time in a theater."
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines