This year’s Academy Awards featured an insanely cute kid, some uncomfortable name-shaming — and one of the biggest flubs in the nearly 100-year history of the ceremony
WORST: People Magazine editor and red carpet host Jess Cagle revived this year’s Golden Globes faux pas, mentioning “Hidden Fences” as one of 2016’s extraordinary films.
BEST: Jimmy Kimmel honors Meryl Streep with a standing ovation and a tongue-in-cheek homage to an actress who “has stood the test of time for her many uninspiring and overrated performances”
BEST: “Moonlight” star Mahershala Ali gives a touching speech honoring his grandmother and four-day-old child after winning the Oscar for Best Actor
WORST: Critically panned superhero flick “Suicide Squad” wins an Oscar for makeup, giving the film as many Academy Awards as “Citizen Kane”
BEST: The cast of “Hidden Figures” brings out one of the film’s true-life inspirations, NASA scientist Katharine Johnson (played by Taraji P. Henson in the movie)
BEST: The rich get richer: Jimmy Kimmel floated bags of sweets to the crowd with a massive balloon drop
WORST/BEST: “Moana” star Auli’i Cravalho got hit in the head with a flag while performing the song “How Far I’ll Go” from the Disney film, but the 16-year-old wasn’t flustered and brought down the house with her singing
BEST: “Fences’” Viola Davis gives an emotional speech honoring her family and August Wilson after accepting her Oscar for Best Supporting Actress
BEST: After Iran’s “The Salesman” won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, director Asghar Farhadi (who boycotted the ceremony) explained his reasons in a heartfelt and pointed statement read by an Iranian-American engineer and astronaut
BEST: Jimmy Kimmel brings a bus full of Hollywood tourists to the front row of the Academy Awards — and Denzel Washington unofficially marries an engaged couple
WORST: Jimmy Kimmel makes fun of one of the tourists’ name, while saying “now that’s a name” to her husband, named Patrick
WORST: Seth Rogen (poorly) sings “Hamilton” songs while presenting the Academy Award for Best Film Editing alongside Michael J. Fox
BEST/WORST: Kimmel conducts a brief interview with “Lion” star Sunny Pawar, but an homage to Disney’s “Lion King” comes off a little awkward
BEST: Kimmel tries to engage the President on his preferred medium: Twitter
BEST: The host unveils an Oscar-themed version of one of his late-night show’s signature bits, Mean Tweets
BEST: Kimmel introduces presenters Ben Affleck and erstwhile rival Matt Damon as “Ben Affleck and guest,” and has Damon played off by the orchestra during his announcement of the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay
WORST: Halle Berry incorrectly pronounces “La La Land” director Damien Chazelle’s name as “Shazeel” when announcing his win for Best Director
BEST: “Manchester by the Sea” director Kenneth Lonergan wins his first Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, and says his film is “about people trying to take care of each other in terrible diversity” in a heartfelt speech
WORST: Emma Stone wins the Oscar for Best Actress for musical “La La Land,” despite her lack of top-end singing skills — and a field including Isabelle Huppert, Meryl Streep and Natalie Portman
WORST: Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway had one job — correctly announce the Best Picture winner — and screwed that up, mistakenly naming “La La Land” instead of the actual victor, “Moonlight.” Oscars accounting firm PwC later apologized, saying the wrong envelope had made its way into their hands.
