The Incredible Melting Man. by Phil Smith

Kunis, who is arguably the most famous Ukrainian-born person in Hollywood, said only a few vague words about “recent global events” and “devastation.” Because that’s how the Oscars work. When Mila Kunis took the stage to introduce a performance of “Somehow You Do” from Four Good Days by Reba McEntire, the song ended with on-screen text asking for a moment of silence in solidarity with the people of Ukraine. But for the most part, you get canned jokes and cutaways to pretty people who are making precisely the staged faces people make when they know they are at risk of being on camera at any moment.

More likely just a bleep or two when somebody curses live on air. Maybe, maybe on a good year you’ll get a genuinely spontaneous outburst of emotion or a political diatribe that isn’t triangulated to serve one’s personal brand. Rarely are moments at the Academy Awards raw or real. (It was only later the same night that the Los Angeles Times reported confirmation that it was scripted.)Īs viewers, we’ve been primed to assume everything we’re seeing at these events is orchestrated. There was a brief moment where, at least to some, it seemed completely plausible Glenn Close organically decided to shake her ass on camera to the iconic number from Spike Lee’s School Daze. Or last year, when a trivia segment showed Glenn Close evincing a surprisingly deep knowledge of Experience Unlimited’s 1988 single “ Da Butt,” before demonstrating the appropriate dance. (Subsequent reporting revealed that the sales were worth a less impressive yet still substantial $2,500.) Ditto when Ellen DeGeneres brought the pizza delivery guy onstage in 2014. Specifically, then-host Chris Rock’s own daughters and their troop, who Rock claimed sold more than $60,000 worth of boxes. (We talked a little bit about this history on an episode of ICYMI, Slate’s podcast about internet culture, last week.) The time the Girl Scouts arrived to sell cookies to the audience in 2016. VIA JAPANESE TELEVISION: The uncensored exchange between Will Smith and Chris Rock /j0Z184ZyXa- Timothy Burke March 28, 2022īut for those of us watching a censored telecast, what we watched go down between Rock and Smith seemed just manipulated enough that it could be part of the time-honored tradition of staged bits engineered for virality at the Academy Awards. Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time.

The Incredible Melting Man. by Phil Smith