If you missed Sunday’s telecast of the 86th Academy Awards, we’ve got you covered.
Here are some of the top moments of the night — from John Travolta fumbles to epic celebrity selfies.
5) John Travolta completely butchers Idina Menzel’s name:
While Frozen‘s “Let It Go” took home the Oscar for Best Original Song, things weren’t as good for John Travolta. He took the stage to introduce Idina Menzel and this is what happened:
Personally, I don’t know how anyone could pronounce ‘Idina Menzel’ wrong. Travolta managed to, and he was WAY OFF. He pronounced something that sounded more like ‘Adele Dazeem’ There’s now a hilarious Twitter handle dedicated to the embarrassing flub.
4) Benedict Cumberbatch shows off his photobombing skills:
I had such high hopes for Benedict Cumberbatch to do well in The Fifth Estate. But while that failed, I’m just really glad that he was invited to the ceremony to present an award and support two other Oscar-nominated films he appeared in — 12 Years a Slave and August: Osage County.
Without the pressure of an award, Cumberbatch was clearly enjoying the event too much as seen in this photo. In what could have been a normal photo of U2 and company, the Sherlock actor savoured the moment and jumped into the picture. Ever wonder why he has so many fangirls? Well, here’s your answer.
3) Lupita Nyong’o wins an Oscar (and also got her boogie on with Pharrell Williams):
The Oscars were clearly Lupita Nyong’o’s night. She took home the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 12 Years a Slave. She gave a touching speech honouring her fellow actors, her family, director Steve McQueen and the woman she played in the movie. I was also delighted to hear her give a shout-out to probably the most thankless role in the film industry: the film’s editor, Jon Walker.
But with all the seriousness aside, Nyong’o also let loose when Pharrell Williams performed his Oscar-nominated song “Happy” from the movie Despicable Me 2. This Vine of her dancing is literally EVERYTHING.
2) Ellen DeGeneres’s celebrity selfie becomes the most retweeted picture of all time:
If only Bradley’s arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars pic.twitter.com/C9U5NOtGap
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) March 3, 2014
If only Bradley’s arm was longer this photo would have been even better.
The sponsor of the night was clearly Samsung, as host Ellen DeGeneres kept pulling out her tablet to snap selfies during the event.
But despite the obvious product placement, DeGeneres was also able to create “the best selfie ever” featuring celebs like Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Brad Pitt and Bradley Cooper (and his short arm), among others.
As expected, the Twitter selfie became a viral success and managed to break the record for most re-tweeted tweet, which was previously held by President Barack Obama’s “Four More Years” message on the night of his re-election. DeGeneres’ picture now has over 2.6 million re-tweets, while Obama’s has over 778k. This sort of makes me lose faith in humanity, but congrats to Ellen for breaking the internet.
1) 12 Years a Slave makes history after winning Best Picture:
Director Steve McQueen made history Sunday after his film 12 Years A Slave won the Oscar for Best Picture.
This win makes the British director the first black man to be given a statuette for the awards’ highest honour since the Academy started handing out awards 86 years ago. In fact, the awards show also saw a first in the Best Director category. Alfonso Cuarón, who won for Gravity, became the first Mexican to win the prize.
Honourable mention: Brad Pitt is the ultimate dad handing out paper plates:
Being a dad of six kids must have given Brad Pitt some serious dad instincts. As Ellen DeGeneres ordered pizza for her star-studded audience, Pitt looked like he was right in his element helping hand out paper plates like he was supervising a school field trip.
Samantha Lui is a graduate of the Ryerson School of Journalism. She was a copy editor and reporter for The Ryersonian.