On Sunday, March 15, celebrities and artists walked into the Dolby Theater for the 98th Annual Academy Awards. Though there weren’t a lot of queer moments, there were a few that shone brighter than the Oscars. The films “One Battle After Another” and “Sinners” battled for the front runner positions.
Hosting the Awards for the second time, Conan O’Brien surprised the audience in drag. Dressed as “Weapons” villain Aunt Gladys in a red bob, O’Brien took to the stage. Later, the actress who portrayed Aunt Gladys, Amy Madigan, won the Best Supporting Actress award.
The “Sinners” cast performed “I Lied to You.” Lesbian Brittney Howard, the lead singer of Alabama Shakes, joined Miles Caton and other Black artists onstage. In a soulful mix-up of bluegrass, hip-hop, and country, the artists “recreated genre and era-spanning wonder of the original moment,” written by Queerty.
The short film “Two People Exchanging Saliva” tied with “The Singers” for Best Line Action Short film. The French lesbian film is in a dystopian world where kissing is forbidden and slaps on the face are the form of currency. “Two People…” captivated the Academy, earning it an Oscar. On stage, co-writer/director Natalie Musteata stated, “Thank you to the Academy for supporting a film that is weird and that is queer and that is made by a majority of women.”
Kpop Demon Hunters’ hit song “Golden,” which won a Best Original Song Academy Award, topped the Billboard charts for weeks and won a Grammy for Best Song for Visual Media. Co-Writer Mark Sonnenblick cherished the win. “I also want to thank my people too. My family, some of whom are here tonight, my husband Isacc who is here tonight, but also just to say everybody who worked on this movie, all the animators, it was a real collaboration across the board.”
Andy Jurgenson, the editor of “One Battle After Another” kissed his husband after his win for Best Film Editing was announced. When Bill and Lewis Pullman called his name, the camera panned to Jurgenson embracing his partner while the crowd cheered. While accepting the award he offered up multiple thanks and announced, “To my partner, Bill, who brings so much joy to my life everyday, and lastly, I’d like to dedicate this to my aunt, Barbara Hall, who was a film archivist for the Academy for over 25 years. She loved her job and she loved showing me old movies and teaching me about film history and I miss her every day.”
Billy Crystal gave tribute to social justice and legendary actor-filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle Reiner. The couple were long-time LGBTQ+ allies and advocates for marriage equality. Explaining the couple’s accomplishments, Crystal then welcomed several of Rein’s collaborators to the stage: Christopher Guest, Demi Moore, Carole King and Meg Ryan.