{"id":216176,"date":"2026-03-12T08:27:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T08:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/216176\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T08:27:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T08:27:14","slug":"conan-obrien-says-addressing-politics-at-oscars-is-a-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/216176\/","title":{"rendered":"Conan O’Brien says addressing politics at Oscars is a ‘dance’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The big question surrounding last year\u2019s Academy Awards was whether the show would address the L.A. wildfires<\/a>, which had rattled the city mere months prior. <\/p>\n

This year, the elephant in the room is the ongoing Iran war, which like last year\u2019s wildfires, puts a celebration like the Oscars in sharp relief. But for Conan O\u2019Brien, balancing gravity and levity is part of his job description as host. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy job is to always try and hit this very, very thin line between entertaining people and also acknowledging some of the realities,\u201d O\u2019Brien said during a Wednesday news conference with the Oscars creative team. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a dance that goes on up until the show begins,\u201d the former talk show host said, adding that he and his team of writers are still revising material ahead of the show to ensure their content is as relevant as possible. <\/p>\n

\u201cBetween us,\u201d he said, referencing Oscars telecast executive producers Katy Mullan and Raj Kapoor, \u201cwe will find the right tone.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien also during the news conference recalled Johnny Carson\u2019s turn hosting the Oscars during the Iran hostage crisis, when 52 Americans, including diplomats and other personnel, were held hostage at the U.S. embassy in Tehran from 1979 to 1981. The comedian remembered the television host parodying ABC\u2019s \u201cNightline\u201d with his joke, \u201cIt\u2019s day 444 of the Oscars.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was such a funny, topical joke that touched on something everyone was thinking about, and at the same time, got a big laugh and was unifying,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cThat was meaningful to me.\u201d <\/p>\n

Kapoor said during the news conference that the production team is putting systems in place to alleviate attendees\u2019 safety concerns amid the tense global situation and reported threats to California<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year, we monitor what\u2019s going on in the world,\u201d the showrunner said, adding that the ceremony has the support of the FBI and LAPD. \u201cThis show has to run like clockwork.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cEverybody that is coming to this show, that is witnessing this show, that is even a fan of the show when they\u2019re standing outside the barricades \u2014 we want everybody to feel safe and protected and welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the telecast\u2019s creative direction, the team cited \u201chuman touch\u201d as a unifying theme \u2014 a not-so-subtle slight to AI<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re celebrating human touch, human connection and what I like to call actual intelligence, as opposed to artificial,\u201d said music director Michael Bearden. \u201cWe want to get back to the communal … and so the music will reflect that.\u201d<\/p>\n

That spirit of celebration will be especially tangible in the \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d performance, Kapoor said. That performance will be complemented by a \u201cSinners\u201d moment featuring Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq as well as guests Misty Copeland, Eric Gales, Buddy Guy, Brittany Howard, Christone \u201cKingfish\u201d Ingram, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Bobby Rush, Shaboozey and Alice Smith. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have this lovely story celebrating Korean culture with authentic Korean drummers and singers and even choreography,\u201d the producer said. \u201cSo again, we\u2019ve expanded our reach, and we\u2019re telling these global stories, celebrating international films that have had a global impact and doing things in a really different way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mullan and Kapoor closed the news conference by teasing a pair of reunions featuring cast members from \u201cBridesmaids\u201d and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. \u201cBridesmaids\u201d alum Rose Byrne<\/a> is nominated for a lead actress Oscar for her role in \u201cIf I Had Legs I\u2019d Kick You,\u201d which marked O\u2019Brien\u2019s dramatic acting debut. (If Byrne wins, he said, \u201chalf that Oscar\u2019s mine.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re gonna have superstars, superheroes, and there is also going to be an extraterrestrial on the stage, so you can figure that one out,\u201d Mullan said. <\/p>\n

The 2026 Oscars will air live Sunday on ABC, with streaming available on Hulu, YouTube TV, AT&T TV and FuboTV. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The big question surrounding last year\u2019s Academy Awards was whether the show would address the L.A. wildfires, which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216177,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[3587,99206,28647,70304,6227,93309,99207,48,52,51,7036,47,50,49,48465,48049,1406,99205,1860,427,99204],"class_list":["post-216176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-abc","tag-bridesmaid","tag-ceremony","tag-conan-obrien","tag-host","tag-iran-war","tag-job-description","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-last-year","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-oscar","tag-oscars","tag-performance","tag-raj-kapoor","tag-show","tag-team","tag-wednesday-news-conference"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}