Explained: Why Are Chadwick Boseman Fans So Angry at the Academy Awards?

The 93rd Academy Awards were held on Sunday night after a tumultuous year that affected cinema worldwide. This year’s show was supposed to be a memorable one, and in a lot of ways it was, as it focused on bringing people back to the theatres. However, by the end of the ceremony, it was marred with one of the biggest Oscars controversies of recent times.

Firstly, the audience noticed that the In Memoriam section, in which members of the film fraternity who have passed away are honoured, was quite ‘awkward.’ It was rushed and haphazard and excluded popular artists like Naya Rivera, who died at 33 after she drowned to save her son’s life at a lake in California. Arrested Development star Jessica Walter, who died in March 2021 at 80, was also excluded.

However, the audience’s discomfort boiled over at the end of the ceremony when Joaquin Phoenix announced that Anthony Hopkins won the Best Actor award for the Father instead of late Chadwick Boseman, who was the popular choice. This wouldn’t have been a point of contention otherwise, but the way the ceremony was handled, added salt to the wounds.

The producers, who are not aware of the winners, switched up the format of the show. The Oscars usually start with the supporting actor categories and end with Best Film. This year, the show started with the screenplay categories and ended with Best Actor. This made people believe that Chadwick Boseman would win the award, and his family sitting in the audience would have a moment to honour his legacy. But this backfired when Hopkins won instead, and he was not present to collect it. It was not safe and wise for the octogenarian to attend the ceremony during a pandemic.

This was exacerbated by the fact that the Academy had released a graphic of Boseman’s face, which was made to resemble an Oscar. They then reportedly put it in the goodie bags that were handed out to the guests. The Academy also had plans to release ‘merch’ to the public. The ceremony, people said, was pegged to be a tribute to Boseman, which ended up being anti-climactic.

An intense backlash followed. The audiences accused the show’s producers of using the late actor’s death to garner viewership and likes. On the other hand, several accused the Oscars of ‘race-baiting,’ wherein the fans of a Black actor were made to believe that he will be honoured only for the award to go to a white actor.

However, fans were quick to clarify that it was not meant as a doubt about Hopkin’s credibility. Only using Boseman’s death as a build-up to the show is what angered fans.

After the backlash, Rob Mills, the executive VP of Walt Disney Television admitted to Variety, “It was not meant to end on somebody who was not present. It was a calculated risk, that I think still paid off because everybody was talking about it.”

“Similarly, nobody wants the wrong envelope to happen, like it did three years ago, but everyone was talking about it. I think some people thought maybe they missed some awards. ‘Why is Best Picture early?’ or, ‘What’s happening, this is crazy,’ almost like, ‘How can this possibly happen? Best Picture has to end it!’. Some people were upset, some people loved it, and that was really the point that there was no apathy.” he added.

He also clarified that the Best Picture category was not the only one moved from the end, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Supporting Actor categories were also changed.

The Academy also apologised for the jarring Boseman graphic and the artist Andre Oshea apologised for the ‘triggering’ artwork. He also clarified that the graphic was not put in gift bags.

All in all, what transpired at the Oscars was a sticky situation. Fans have suggested the producers of the show get a hint to prevent something like this from happening again. However, all seems to be well between the members of the film fraternity as Hopkins paid a tribute to Boseman in his acceptance speech and the late actor’s brother also clarified that they were not offended by the gaffe.

However, this is not the first time fans have called out the producers of a major award show for misleading them. During the 2021 Grammy Awards, K-pop band BTS was nominated in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category for their single Dynamite. The band lost out to Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande who won for their song Rain on Me.

Fans of BTS, who are called Army, were disappointed with the organisers for several reasons. Firstly, they announced the award in the pre-ceremony and not the main show, despite it being a popular category with many stars nominated in it. Secondly, buzz around BTS’ win was loud, with most fans and many celebrities predicting their win.

Thirdly, and most importantly, BTS also closed the show with their performance. This meant that the show ensured that the Army would stay tuned to their television sets till the end of the show to support the band. The fans even trended ‘Scammys’ on Twitter.

Hence, the question we can all take from the whole Oscars/ Grammys saga is whether the big award shows intentionally indulge in race-baiting in favour of white artists to gain viewership. Or is it just a marketing gimmick to gain revenue from ads, and in the process, the most revered artists (regardless of colour) are made to be scapegoats?

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