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Culture > Entertainment

Best, Worst & Funniest Moments of This Year’s Oscars

The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at PSU chapter.

The 96th Academy Awards, or more known as the Oscars, took place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 11.

Millions of viewers tuned in to see their favorite actors and movies win one of the most prestigious awards in film. The awards show is always expected to have some crazy moments, especially with Jimmy Kimmel being host for the fourth time since 2017.

Without further ado, here were some of the best, worst and funniest moments of the 2024 Oscars.

Best: Ryan gosling’s performance of “i’m just ken”

Ryan Gosling was really having a main character moment at the Oscars this year.

The movie of the summer famously broke box office records and has garnered countless award nominations (and some wins), including an Oscar nomination for the “Best Original Song” category.

The “Barbie” actor channeled his inner kenergy once again to perform the well-known hit “I’m Just Ken.”

Gosling’s performance was accompanied by other “Barbie” cast members such as Simu Liu and Kingsley Ben-Adir, both of whom also played other versions of Ken in the movie.

Gosling pulled out all the stops during his spectacular performance including Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, who brought a rocking guitar solo to the star-studded event.

Throughout the performance, viewers could also notice that it seemed like the entire theatre was on their feet singing along with Gosling, including fellow “Barbie” cast members Margot Robbie, America Ferrera, Greta Gerwig and even Emma Stone.

Goslings performance was truly one to remember and allowed the “Barbie” experience to close on a high note.

Oscars via YouTube
Worst: Lily gladstone’s oscar snub

Now this one was probably the most disappointing loss of the night.

The actress was nominated in the “Best Actress” category for her role in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” but was beat by Emma Stone’s performance in “Poor Things.”

Gladstone was the predicted winner of the category and it was set to be a historic win. If you didn’t know, Gladstone’s nomination this year made history because she was the first Native American person to receive a “Best Actress” Oscar nomination.

The actress took home several awards for her roles in the past couple months, including at the Screen Actors Guild Awards and Golden Globes.

In clips of the announcement of the category winner, you can clearly see Stone’s surprise when her name was called out, showing that she wasn’t expecting to win.

Overall, the internet was happy about Stone’s win but believed that Gladstone was robbed of the glory for her infamous role.

Funniest: The “Barbenheimer” rivalry continues

With the “Barbenheimer” obsession coming to a close, of course some of the films’ cast had to address the beef between “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” fans.

The two films, which both released on July 26, were the hit movies of this past summer.

The movies have been goes head-to-head this awards season, with both winning countless awards and gaining nominations.

At this years Oscars, “Barbie” was nominated for just one category for best song, while “Oppenheimer” was nominated for 13 categories, winning in some of the most major categories of the event.

Emily Blunt (“Oppenheimer”) and Ryan Gosling (“Barbie”) both presented a tribute for stunt performers this year and, of course, had to poke fun at the rivalry between their films.

The pair hilariously made fun of each others films and the beef that they stirred up since the releases. Gosling jokingly saying that “Oppenheimer” was “riding ‘Barbie’s’ coattails all summer,” with Blunt later roasting Gosling saying that he needs to paint his abs on.

These two were too funny and definitely brought a funny end to the infamous “Barbenheimer” battle.

Entertainment Tonight via YouTube
Best: vanessa hudgens’ pregnancy reveal

Vanessa Hudgens is starting 2024 off on a high note!

Like High School Musical actress beamed on the Oscars red carpet, only to reveal that she is pregnant with her first child.

Hudgens recently got married in December 2023 to professional baseball player Cole Tucker. The wedding was highly anticipated, and the internet was elated to see the couple is expecting their first child in 2024.

Worst: Jokes about robert downey jr.’s past

One of the most cringe moments of the Oscars was right in the beginning, during Jimmy Kimmel’s opening monologue.

The four-time Oscars host is known to take lighthearted jabs at audience members who are nominated throughout the evening, but this joke may have gone a bit too far.

Kimmel’s monologue was going fairly strong until one of his jokes poked fun at Robert Downey Jr.’s history with addiction. Downey, nominated for best supporting actor, is known to have battled substance addiction and even went to prison for one year due to continuously missed court dates regarding his addiction charges.

Even after all of this, Downey has been sober since 2003 and his career has only skyrocketed since then.

Kimmel referenced the actor’s drug addiction by saying, “This is the highest point of Robert Downey Jr.’s career, well, one of the highest points.” When the camera panned to Downey, he looked unamused and annoyed, mouthing “Let’s move on.”

The veteran-host’s job definitely fell flat, leaving both the audience and viewers cringing.

Funniest: john cena’s oscar presentation

What’s better than John Cena at the Oscars?

The WWE wrestler presented the award for best costumes and his presentation was definitely one of the most memorable moments of the night.

This year marked the 50th anniversary of the streaking incident that happened during the 1974 awards show.

Kimmel and Cena poked fun at the hilarious moment that went down in Oscars history, by bringing out Cena almost completely nude. The delivery of this bit was perfection, and left both the audience and viewers smiling their way through the rest of the night.

Jimmy Kimmel Live via YouTube

While these were only some of the most memorable moments from the awards show, there were countless of other moments to check out. Overall, this years Oscars was one to remember!

Allie is a PSU student studying Public Relations & minoring in Recreation, Parks & Tourism Management. In her free time she enjoys listening to music, traveling, reading, and painting!