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Oscars viewers are criticizing Robert Downey Jr. for seemingly overlooking Ke Huy Quan when he went to accept his Academy Award for best supporting actor. Quan won his first Oscar last year in the same category as Downey for “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” and returned this year as one of its five presenters.
In clips posted online, Downey took his award from Quan in stride, then approached actor and director Tim Robbins to shake hands.
The 58-year-old actor then doubled back to give a fist bump to Sam Rockwell, who was standing in between Robbins and Quan. The “Everything Everywhere All At Once” star appeared to step forward when Downey circled back, but then returned to his position when Downey engaged Rockwell.
Quan, Robbins and Rockwell were among the five presenters, but only Quan read Downey Jr.’s name and handed him the statue. Downey also did not interact with Mahershala Ali or Christoph Waltz, the other two presenters.
Quan and Downey Jr. later shook hands backstage, hugged in the event’s press room and took group pictures with the rest of the award presenters.
Still, the on-stage interaction has social media users talking. They compared Downey’s perceived behavior to Iron Man, the fast-talking and big-headed Marvel superhero he played from 2008 to 2019.
Fans said Quan “called his name with such pure excitement and appreciation,” one fan wrote on X, only for the “Avengers” actor to “blatantly ignore” him, another person said. Others called the move “arrogant“ and “disappointing to watch.”
“For someone who wants to move past iron man that was very iron man of him from expression to body language to arrogance,” one person said on X, formerly Twitter.
“HE LOOKS SO HAPPY FOR HIM and she sheer confusion when he just gets ignored is really breaking my heart.. idk what happened but ugh it’s not a good look,” another said.
A similar scenario seemed to unfold when Emma Stone, who won best actress in a leading role for “Poor Things,” appeared to walk by Michelle Yeoh, last year’s winner of the category, on her way to accept the award. Yeoh co-starred with Quan in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which won seven Oscars in 2023.
In a clip of the moment, Stone appeared to say thank you twice as she took the award from Yeoh, but only stopped to hug Sally Field and Jennifer Lawrence. Yeoh mouthed, “Come,” then handed the statue to Lawrence, Stone’s longtime friend, who then passed it on to Stone. After finishing her speech, Stone circled back and touched Yeoh as well as presenters Charlize Theron and Jessica Lange.
Stone and Yeoh shared a hug backstage and they took group pictures with the rest of the category presenters.
On Instagram March 11, Yeoh gave her take on the moment, saying she deliberately gave the statue to Lawrence.
“I confused you, but I wanted to share that glorious moment of handing over (your) Oscar to you together with your best friend Jennifer!!” Yeoh wrote, saying that Stone and Lawrence’s friendship reminds her of her friendship with “Everything Everywhere” co-star Jamie Lee Curtis.
Some commentators wondered if the actors were “unconsciously” discriminating against their Asian colleagues with the perceived snubs. TODAY.com has reached out to Stone and Downey for comment.
The Oscars backlash was reminiscent of a moment from the Grammys, Taylor Swift was critiqued for walking past Celine Dion when accepting her album of the year award. The two later posed for a photo together, which Dion posted on TikTok with the caption, “Such a memorable night.” Neither commented on the backlash.
Public relations professional and Grace PR founder Beth Booker, in an interview with TODAY.com, says award shows are the “pinnacle for people watching,” which means narratives can take shape in the “nuances of people watching.”
With that in mind, she says there is a “right way” to accept awards — even if it doesn’t usually happen.
“Ideally, the celebrity would stop to shake the hand of the presenter for the award, but that doesn’t always happen, and it’s not going to be a cookie-cutter process, depending on the winner and how many people are accepting the award,” she says.
“While these people accepting awards are celebrities, they are also humans, and we should give them some grace when they don’t ‘perform’ how we expect them to,” she says.
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