The 6 best (and worst) Oscar moments: Lady Gaga strips down, Jimmy Kimmel roasts Will Smith

JK News Live

When it comes to shocking Oscars moments, you can’t top last year’s infamous slap.

But there’s still plenty to talk about from Sunday’s Academy Awards telecast, where “Everything Everywhere All at Once” dominated the night with seven wins, including best picture. Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan gave historic, emotional speeches for best actress and best supporting actor, respectively, while Jamie Lee Curtis upset in the best supporting actress category – all for “Everything Everywhere.”

Jimmy Kimmel returned to host the ceremony for a third time, which ran nearly three-and-a-half hours. If you didn’t tune in, here are all the other highs and lows from this year’s show:

Pop star Gaga, who’s in the midst of shooting “Joker 2,” surprised at the ceremony with a performance of her best original song-nominated “Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick.” Wearing just a T-shirt, ripped jeans and a mostly bare face, Gaga delivered raw vocals as she sang a stripped-down version of the bombastic pop ballad, which she described as “deeply personal.”

The 6 best (and worst) Oscar moments: Lady Gaga strips down, Jimmy Kimmel roasts Will Smith

Patrick Ryan

USA TODAY

When it comes to shocking Oscars moments, you can’t top last year’s infamous slap.

Jimmy Kimmel returned to host the ceremony for a third time, which ran nearly three-and-a-half hours. If you didn’t tune in, here are all the other highs and lows from this year’s show:

Lady Gaga strips down, Rihanna goes glam for original song performances

Lady Gaga belts out her Oscar-nominated “Hold My Hand” at the 95th Academy Awards.

“We need a lot of love to walk through this life, and we all need a hero sometimes,” Gaga said as she introduced the song. “There’s heroes all around us, in unassuming places, but you might find that you can be your own hero even if you feel broken inside.”

Rihanna, who revealed her second pregnancy last month while performing at the Super Bowl, gave an equally captivating but more lavish performance of her “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” theme song “Lift Me Up.” But it was “Naatu Naatu,” the infectious, high-energy dance number from “RRR,” that ultimately walked away with the original song Oscar.

The human rights activist was hailed on social media for her sensible answer to Kimmel’s comedy bit. Polling A-listers in the audience with questions submitted by fans, Kimmel asked Yousafzai her thoughts on the “Don’t Worry Darling” drama from Venice Film Festival last fall. He also jokingly called her “Malala Land,” a play on the 2016 movie musical “La La Land.”

“Your work on human rights and education for women and children is an inspiration,” Kimmel said. “As the youngest Nobel Prize winner in history, I was wondering, do you think Harry Styles spit on Chris Pine?”

“I only talk about peace,” Yousafzai responded, earning applause and praise on Twitter for her mic drop moment.

The late-night host took no prisoners with his razor-sharp opening monologue: roasting Brad Pitt’s “Babylon” for bombing at the box office, Nicole Kidman for her viral AMC Theatres ad, and the academy for snubbing female filmmakers in this year’s best director category. He also took aim at Will Smith for slapping Chris Rock at last year’s ceremony.

This year, “we have strict policies in place,” Kimmel explained. “If anyone in this theater commits an act of violence at any point during the show, you will be awarded the Oscar for best actor and permitted to give a 19-minute long speech.” Later in the sluggish telecast, he joked, “It kind of makes you miss the slapping a little bit, right?”

After nearly sweeping awards season, the “Everything Everywhere” star took home his first Oscar for best supporting actor, earning a standing ovation. Quan, 51, who was born in Vietnam, honored his mother at the top of his speech.

“My mom is 84 years old and she’s at home watching,” an emotional Quan said. “Mom, I just won an Oscar! My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp. And somehow, I ended up here on Hollywood’s biggest stage. They say stories like these only happen in the movies. I cannot believe it’s happening to me. This – this is the American dream.”

Quan made a Hollywood comeback this past year with “Everything Everywhere,” after starring in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and “The Goonies” as a kid. He thanked his “Goonies” co-star, Jeff Cohen, who is also the actor’s entertainment attorney. “My ‘Goonies’ brother for life!” Quan said, before encouraging viewers to not give up on their dreams

After surprising at the Screen Actors Guild Awards with a best supporting actress win, Curtis repeated at the Oscars in the category, beating out fellow contenders Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) and Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) in one of the night’s tightest races. In her acceptance speech, Curtis reflected on her eclectic career, which includes comedies “A Fish Called Wanda” and “Freaky Friday,” and the “Halloween” horror franchise

“To all the people who have supported the genre movies that I’ve made for these years, the thousands and hundreds of thousands of people, we just won an Oscar together!” Curtis, 64, said. She also paid tearful tribute to her late parents, actors Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis. “And to my mother and my father, who were both nominated for Oscars in different categories – I just won an Oscar!”

John

John Travolta introduces the “In Memoriam” performance by Lenny Kravitz during Sunday’s Oscars.

Travolta returned to the Oscars stage to introduce the In Memoriam tribute, tearing up as he remembered his “Grease” co-star Olivia Newton-John, who died last year at 73 after a long battle with breast cancer.

“In this industry, we have the rare luxury of getting to do what we love for a living, and sometimes getting to do it with people that we come to love,” Travolta, 69, said. “Since tonight is a celebration of the work and the accomplishments of our community and this past year, it is only fitting then that we celebrate those we’ve lost who’ve dedicated their lives to their craft, both in front of and behind the camera.”

He referenced a lyric from one of Newton-John’s most beloved “Grease” songs: “They’ve touched our hearts,” Travolta said. “They’ve made us smile, and became dear friends who we will always remain hopelessly devoted to.”

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