Oscars 2026: The best and worst moments

The Oscars are never just about the awards.

Every year, Hollywood’s biggest night delivers a mix of speeches that range from meandering to heartwarming, unexpected wins, awkward jokes, and the occasional moment that immediately takes over the internet. The 2026 Academy Awards were no exception.

From a historic cinematography win to an Oscars crowd waving K-pop light sticks, this year’s ceremony delivered plenty of memorable moments — along with a few that didn’t quite land.

Here are the best and worst moments from the 2026 Oscars.

BEST: Conan O’Brien as Aunt Gladys

Leave it to Conan O’Brien to kick off the ceremony with a bit of absurdist physical comedy. During a pretaped opening segment, the host channeled Aunt Gladys from Weapons, a character whose chaotic energy helped earn Amy Madigan the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

In the clip, O’Brien as Gladys is chased through town by a gaggle of children before eventually bursting onto the Oscars stage, children in tow.

BEST: Ryan Coogler and Sinners winning anything

Even if Sinners didn’t ultimately take home Best Picture, the film still had a huge night. Ryan Coogler won his first Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, while Michael B. Jordan picked up Best Actor, giving the film some of the ceremony’s most meaningful victories.

After becoming the most nominated film in Oscar history, the wins felt like a well-earned victory lap for one of the year’s biggest cultural moments.

WORST: Cutting off the “Golden” songwriters mid-speech

One of the more awkward moments of the night came when the songwriters behind “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters were cut off mid-acceptance speech by the orchestra. It’s a familiar Oscars problem — heartfelt speeches getting rushed for time — but the abrupt cutoff felt especially unfortunate given how big the song has been all year (and how long the Bridesmaids bit ran before it).

WORST: The Bridesmaids reunion that ran a little long

Credit: Frank Micelotta/Disney via Getty Images

The Bridesmaids reunion delivered a fun hit of comedy nostalgia, with the cast reuniting on stage to celebrate the comedy’s 15th anniversary and to present Best Original Score. But what started as a charming throwback slowly stretched into one of the ceremony’s longer presentation bits. When winners are getting their speeches cut short, even great comedians can feel like they’re taking up too much time.

BEST: Autumn Durald Arkapaw makes Oscars history

Credit: Photo by Rich Polk/Penske Media via Getty Images

One of the night’s most meaningful wins came when Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman ever to win the Oscar for Best Cinematography, a long-overdue milestone for the category. Moments like this are always a little bittersweet: on one hand, it’s an incredible achievement for Durald Arkapaw — on the other, it’s hard to believe the Academy is still hitting milestones like this in 2026.

BEST: Michael B. Jordan’s emotional Best Actor speech

After winning Best Actor for his performance as twins Smoke and Stack in Sinners, Michael B. Jordan used his speech to thank longtime collaborator Ryan Coogler, saying the director gave him “an opportunity to be seen.” It was one of the ceremony’s most heartfelt moments.

Jordan also took a moment to honor the Black actors who came before him, saying, “I stand here because of the people who came before me: Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, Will Smith.”

BEST: KPop Demon Hunters winning Best Animated Feature

Credit: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images

The internet’s favorite animated film finally capped off its dominant awards season run with an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Director Maggie Kang delivered a powerful speech about representation, telling viewers, “This is for Korea and for Koreans everywhere.”

And as a fun treat for fans, an image of HUNTR/X appeared on the screen behind them, Rumi holding an Oscar.

WORST: Sean Penn not showing up

When Sean Penn won Best Supporting Actor, he wasn’t there to accept the award. Presenter Kumail Nanjiani joked that the actor “couldn’t be here tonight… or didn’t want to be,” which got a laugh but also underscored how odd it felt to hand out a major acting award without the winner present.

BEST: The Oscars briefly becoming a K-pop concert

During the performance of “Golden,” singers EJAE, Rei Ami, and Audrey Nuna turned the Dolby Theatre into something closer to a K-pop concert, with stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, and Emma Stone waving their light sticks in the air.

The number also paid tribute to Korean culture, featuring traditional Korean pansori singers and drummers.

BEST: Misty Copeland’s surprise ballet moment

The incendiary Sinners musical number featured a surprise appearance by ballet icon Misty Copeland, adding a striking moment of dance to the performance — and landing just a few feet away from Best Actor nominee Timothée Chalamet, whose recent ballet comments have been circulating online.

BEST: A rare Oscars tie

The ceremony delivered a little welcome chaos when Best Live Action Short Film ended in a tie, with both The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva taking home the award.

It’s only the seventh tie in Oscars history, a rare moment that briefly disrupted the ceremony’s tidy structure and leaned into delightful disarray.

WORST: Trying a little too hard to be “online”

During one particularly unfunny bit, O’Brien explained that the Oscars wanted to appeal to younger viewers, prompting a barrage of internet-adjacent jokes about “hostmaxxing” and references like “6–7.” The Oscars have always tried to stay culturally relevant, but here the attempt at online humor felt less like making a connection and more like watching a brand discover Gen Alpha memes in real-time.

BEST: A moving tribute to Rob Reiner

The Oscars’ In Memoriam segment honored the many artists the industry lost this year, but it paused for a particularly heartfelt tribute to Rob Reiner from his close friend Billy Crystal.

“I met Mr. Rob Reiner in 1975 when I was cast as his best friend in an episode of All in the Family, and it went so well that Rob said, ‘It was fun playing your best friend. Why don’t we keep it going?’ And it was a thrill to see him evolve from a great comic actor to a master storyteller,” Crystal said.

BEST: Javier Bardem gets political

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Throughout the night, many winners alluded to the state of the world in careful, coded ways — speaking about choosing optimism, resilience, or the importance of art in difficult times without naming specifics. Javier Bardem didn’t bother with the euphemisms. When he took the stage as a presenter, the actor delivered a brief but direct message: “No to war. Free Palestine.” The moment cut through the ceremony’s usual diplomatic language and briefly punctured the careful neutrality that tends to define awards shows.

WORST: Conan O’Brien’s post-credits sketch

Post-credits scenes after the Oscars should be illegal. The telecast is already too long as it is! After the ceremony ended, the broadcast returned for a sketch where Conan O’Brien was “killed off” and replaced by YouTuber MrBeast — a gag that needed more context to understand and left viewers wondering if the show really needed one more joke.