Oscars viewers hit out at Conan O’Brien over ‘disgusting’ two-word comment about female celebrities
A comment that the Academy Award presenter Conan O'Brien made tonight whilst hosting the show has landed him in hot water with viewers watching the festivities from home.
The gig marks the 61-year-old comedian's Oscars debut, and already, he's caused quite the stir for several reasons.
Just minutes into the star-studded soiree, and O'Brien seemingly began mocking Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
"Speaking of Amazon, we have some footage of Amazon chief Jeff Bezos arriving tonight on the red carpet," he kicked off, before cutting to a video tape filmed ahead of the show.
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The video began with several stars chatting to press, before a man dressed in delivery gear then appears - complete with cap and all - before launching a hefty parcel to the ground.
And as we say, the moment has left viewers hugely divided.
"THAT IS NOT WHERE I THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING WITH THAT JEFF BEZOS BIT," one jibed.
Another added: "Jeff Bezos arriving in the Amazon box lol."
"Look for Jeff Bezos on ebay Next week," a third continued.
"THE JEFF BEZOS JOKE????" a fourth went on.
And later, an even more shocking remark was made whilst O'Brien introduced June Squibb and Scarlett Johansson - who themselves were presenting an award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.
Viewers were horrified to hear the presenter describe the pairing as his two 'hall-passes'.
For those out of the loop, a 'hall pass' describes a chosen individual that your other-half has to give you permission to be intimate with.
As we say, however, the joke hasn't gone down too well with many viewers watching from home.
"Conan double doink with the hall pass bit. next," one hit out on X afterwards.
Another wrote: "Ugh i hate a hall pass joke."
"Hall pass joke in 2025," a third slammed.
Another continued: "'Hall pass' is such a disgusting concept and to so casually use it as well yuck."
"Hall pass joke not funny didn’t laugh," a fifth claimed.
Another continued: "Ew introducing 2 women as your "hall pass" Conan I knew you'll f**k up."
"The hall passes joke felt disrespectful idk," added another.
As we say, however, these aren't the only two comments that have seen O'Brien facing backlash.
Following a joint performance from Wicked actors Ariana Grande and Cynthia Eviro at the very start of the show, the presenter appeared in a VT crawling out of the dishevelled body of Demi Moore - a scene made famous in Oscar-nominated horror The Substance.
The skit hasn't gone down too well with all viewers watching from home.
"The oscars did not need to introduce Conan that way," one wrote.
Another continued: "Conan coming out the back of Demi wtf lmao".
A third critic hit out: "Fingers crossed Conan is able to salvage this horrible opening to the Oscars.
"I hope you can wake the audience up before we all shut this off and just go to sleep."
The most shocking Oscars moments ever
Angelina Jolie locks lips with her brother on the red carpet (2000)
A sweet shoutout from Jolie to her brother James Haven after winning Best Supporting Actress for Girl, Interrupted turned into something much more bizarre on the red carpet after the event.
Jolie said during her acceptance speech: "I’m in shock, and I’m so in love with my brother right now.
"He just held me and said he loved me, and I know he’s so happy for me. And, um, thank you for that."
So far so innocuous, but the pair then went on to lock lips on the red carpet after the ceremony in front of paparazzi.
Reflecting on the incident in 2007, James said: “I did not give Angie a French kiss. It was something simple and lovely. She was about to go off to Mexico to finish filming Original Sin with Antonio Banderas.
"I congratulated her on the Oscar win and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. It was snapped and became a big thing."
Adrien Brody surprises Halle Berry with a kiss after winning Best Actor (2003)
The last time Brody was up for Best Actor, he took Berry and everyone else by surprise when he passionately kissed her as she presented him with the award.
Berry said in 2017: “I was like, ‘What the f**k is happening right now?’ That is what was going through my mind.”
She was sympathetic for how the moment may have gone to Brody’s head, however, adding: “I was there the year before and I know the feeling of being out of your body, I just f**king went with it.”
On the campaign trail for The Brutalist this year, Bordy said of the moment in an interview with Variety: “We live in a very conscious time, which is a wonderful thing.
“And nothing that I ever do or have done or would’ve done is ever done with the intention of making anyone feel bad.”
John Travolta absolutely butchers Idina Menzel’s name (2014)
Most people would have no trouble pronouncing Frozen star Idina Menzel’s name, but John Travolta isn’t most people.
The Grease legend ended up calling her Adele Dazeem when welcoming to her onstage to perform. Quite how he arrived at that pronunciation is anyone’s guess.
Travolta later apologised, saying in a statement: “I've been beating myself up all day. Then I thought ... what would Idina Menzel say? She’d say, 'Let it go, let it go!'
“Idina is incredibly talented and I am so happy Frozen took home two Oscars Sunday night!"
The La La Land and Moonlight fiasco (2017)
Back in 2017, the most prestigious award of the night, Best Film, was about to be announced.
Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced the gong had gone to La La Land, the Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone musical which was widely considered the favourite to win.
Two and half minutes later, when the La La Land team were midway through their acceptance speeches, a producer on the film Jordan Horowitz was shown another envelope that revealed they hadn’t won after all.
There’s a mistake," he said. "Moonlight, you guys won Best Picture. This is not a joke.”
It turned out Beatty had somehow been handed the envelope for Best Actress, which went to Emma Stone for La La Land earlier in the evening.
It turned into a mortifying experience for all involved. Moonlight director Barry Jenkins said afterwards: “I noticed the commotion but I was speechless when the result was altered. I've never seen that happen before.”
The slap heard around the world (2022)
Easily the most dramatic thing to ever happen at the Oscars, Smith strode on stage and walloped presenter Chris Rock, after he made an ill-advised joke about the Men in Black star’s wife Jada Pinkett-Smith.
Rock said on stage: “Jada, can't wait for G.I. Jane 2,” a reference to her shaved head. Jada has been open about her struggles with alopecia, which made this a low blow in many people’s eyes.
Cue Smith striding on stage and smacking Rock, later yelling at him: “Keep my wife's name out of your f**king mouth.”
The upside of all this was that Smith was banned from attending the Oscars for 10 years, although he did awkwardly go on to pick up the award for Best Actor later that evening.
Smith apologised for his behaviour several times in the months following, saying: “One of the things about that moment, I just didn’t realise, I wasn’t thinking, but how many people got hurt in that moment.”
Topics: Celebrity, US News, TV And Film, Oscars
Rhianna Benson