Oscars<\/a> required beefed-up security \u2013 in reality, due to threats from Iran following the US military strikes in the country, though the host joked that instead it was due to \u201cconcerns about attacks from both the opera and ballet communities\u201d, after Chalamet\u2019s controversial comments about the commercial value of those art forms. \u201cThey\u2019re just mad you left out jazz,\u201d O\u2019Brien said to a gamely smiling Chalamet.<\/p>\n\u201cTonight could get political,\u201d he added, saying the quiet part out loud, \u201cand if that makes you uncomfortable, there\u2019s an alternate Oscars hosted by Kid Rock. It\u2019s at the Dave & Buster\u2019s down the street.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later in the monologue, O\u2019Brien took aim at industry figures such as Netflix head Ted Sarandos (\u201cIt\u2019s his first time in a theater! This is what they\u2019re talking about\u201d) and nominations-less studio Amazon (\u201cAlso shut out? Walmart, Alibaba and Chewy. Why isn\u2019t the website I order toilet paper from winning more Oscars?!\u201d) as well as the sorry state of US healthcare: \u201cIn Hamnet, Shakespeare\u2019s wife gives birth by herself in the woods \u2013 or what we call in America affordable healthcare.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the fact that this year is the first since 2012 with no British actors in the top two categories, O\u2019Brien spoke on behalf of Britain when he said \u201cbut at least we arrest our pedophiles\u201d, an oblique reference to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s arrest in association with Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n
Overall, O\u2019Brien, largely considered the patron saint of ex-late-night television hosts and a beloved American comedian, kept the mood light, glancing many of the third rails of US discourse without derailing a night for the celebration of film. But he turned sincere and sober just briefly to acknowledge that the Oscars are, indeed, a international event. \u201cEveryone watching right now, around the world, is all too aware that these are very chaotic, frightening times,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s at moments like these that I believe that the Oscars are particularly resonant \u2013 31 countries across six continents are represented this evening, and every film we salute is the product of thousands of people speaking different languages, working hard to make something of beauty.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe pay tribute tonight, not just to film, but to the ideals of global artistry, collaboration, patience, resilience and that rarest of qualities today \u2013 optimism,\u201d he added. \u201cSo let us celebrate not be cause we think all is well but becasue we work and hope for better.\u201d<\/p>\n
And in the \u201cspirit of optimism\u201d, O\u2019Brien, true to form, dovetailed into a silly bit in which he accepted a mock award for \u201cbest achievement\u201d while serenaded by Josh Groban and feted by the pope.<\/p>\n
Sunday broadcast is expected to see an array of A-list celebrities as presenters, including Anne Hathaway, Gwyneth Paltrow, Demi Moore, Javier Bardem and Robert Downey Jr, as well as tributes for late icons such as Rob Reiner, Robert Redford, Diane Keaton and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conan O\u2019Brien\u2019s opening monologue at the 98th Academy Awards cheekily paid tribute to many nominated films \u2013 and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":["post-331648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}