Not even a pandemic can stop the inevitable awkwardness of the Oscars press room.
Most years, the Oscars media room is as intimate and pedestrian as an award show gets. Agents and publicists drink warm diet coke and pound cocktail shrimp with the global press and a throng of photographers. Movie stars and filmmakers glide through, gossip is shared, Wi-Fi is terrible, a good time is had. But as the pandemic has taught us all season long, no amount of planning or decorum is a match for the unbeatable foe of Zoom. Adhering to similar COVID-19 concessions as the live show, the press was relegated to a virtual conference room. And, aside from Glenn Close’s “Da Butt” moment, this is where the majority of the gloriously uncomfortable award show moments occurred. Despite noble efforts from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences team, chaos reigned — from unmuted microphones to wardrobe malfunctions, empty chairs to mistaken identities. We will not name names (as there before the grace of God go us fellow journalists), but here are the most awkward moments from the 2021 Oscars media room: A very patient Daniel Kaluuya was the first big star to hit the press room, which for talent manifested against a step-and-repeat with a microphone, squinting into the distance at what we imagine was a maximum of two computer monitors broadcasting Zoom.
