The 5 Most Controversial Oscars Speeches Of All Time

The Academy Awards might be quite a long drawn out affair but it has provided us with many memorable moments nonetheless. Of course, there’s the groundbreaking winners such as Hattie McDaniel, the first black artist to win an Oscar, Julia Phillips who became the first woman to win Best Film, and Halle Berry, the first black woman to win Best Actress.

Often, though, it’s the controversy we remember the most. Midnight Cowboy becoming the first X-rated film to win Best Picture, George C. Scott refusing to accept his accolade (the first person to do so), and Jennifer Lawrence falling on the steps when walking to the stage to accept her Oscar.

Who might cause the latest ruckus, no one knows. But the fact there’s usually at least one unexpected thing to occur at the Academy Awards is why we’re all glued to our TV sets watching it. It might be another provocative speech, an unfortunate faux pas, or a surprise winner. Check out the best Oscar betting odds to learn who’s leading the way for the top prizes this year.

Now, new research from RantCasino has revealed the top 5 most controversial Oscar acceptance speeches with Joaquin Phoenix topping the list. The actor took to the Academy Awards stage and used the platform to draw attention to inequality in all its various guises.

While many will remember the 2020 speech for Phoenix’s pro-Vegan slant – when he said: “We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow, and when she gives birth, we steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. Then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf, and we put it in our coffee and our cereal” – his three minutes on stage contained a passionate plea for humanity to be kinder – to each other, to nature, and to the environment.

He also quoted his late brother – the wonderfully talented and dearly missed River Phoenix – by reading a lyric he’d written as a 17-year-old. He said, “Run to the rescue with love, and peace will follow.”

The actor’s speech, which came as a result of his iconic 2019 role as the Joker, has been viewed over 11 million times with Phoenix’s time on the Oscars stage described as “breaking the internet”. Google Trends show a 525% increase in search volumes for “Joaquin Phoenix” in the two weeks between the end of January and the date of Joaquin’s speech (26/01—09/02), reaching peak popularity on the day of the speech – suggesting it truly did break the internet.

Second in the list of most controversial speeches went to Marlon Brando. well sort of. The speech didn’t actually involve him at all. He refused to accept the award for The Godfather, instead sending Sacheen Littlefeather, a Native American actress, to deliver his protest.

Racking up 11.5 million views, Brando’s award refusal came to symbolise the actor’s protest against the offensive portrayal of Native Americans in film. Earliest Google Trends data shows that in December 2004, when data first began to be collected, searches for the speech reached peak popularity of the term – suggesting early internet users were desperate to see the unprecedented protest.

When she took to the stage on Brando’s behalf in 1973, Littlefeather said: “He very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award. And the reasons for this being the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry.”

Another controversial speech in the top five is the Fred Berger’s realisation that he’d been given the award mistakenly. “We lost, by the way,” he said in 2017.

It was the 88th Oscars in which La La Land was mistakenly awarded Best Picture in place of Moonlight. The mistake was soon rectified but not before the awkward moment when producer of La La Land, Fred Berger, took the envelope from the presenter’s hand and revealed its contents to the audience. The shocking moment has been watched over 2.3 million times and search volumes for Fred Berger saw an eye-watering 2300% increase between January and February when the Oscars took place, according to Google Trends.

Top 5 Most Controversial Oscars Acceptance Speeches

What are the most controversial Oscars acceptance speeches of all time? Well, fear not, here’s the top 5 including Joaquin Phoenix passionately quoting his brother River, Marlon Brando sending a Native American actress to protest against the industry, Angelina Jolie’s over-affection for her brother, and Fred Berger realising his film La La Land had not won the Oscar despite being initially presented with it.