What Kieran Culkin said to Jeremy Strong during censored moment at Oscars
Academy Awards organisers took a risk by putting notoriously-unpredictable speech-maker Kieran Culkin's potential Oscar win right at the beginning of the ceremony.
And just seconds into his Best Supporting Actor acceptance speech, a comment from Culkin aimed at his Succession co-star Jeremy Strong had to be censored due to profanity.
But what exactly did the 42-year-old say that warranted such a response?
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For those in need of a reminder, father-of-two Culkin this year went up against several huge-name nominees - including Yura Borisov for Anora, Edward Norton for A Complete Unknown and Guy Pearce for The Brutalist.
Also in the prestigious category was his close friend and former cast-mate Jeremy Strong, 46, who received a nomination following his performance in Donald Trump drama The Apprentice. Culkin, meanwhile, had been nominated for his role in dark comedy A Real Pain.
In the end, it was the latter that bagged the accolade, and after his name was called by presenter Robert Downey Jr, he rushed onto the stage.
During his speech, Culkin issued a special mention to his fellow competitors, but took a moment in particular to give a shout-out to Strong.
The majority of this moment was bleeped out for viewers watching the star-studded soiree from home, however.
This meant that only attendees in the live studio audience were aware of what was said.
It's now been revealed, however, what Culkin said that was deemed controversial enough to be censored.
According to Deadline, the actor gushed over Strong, telling him: "He's right, by the way. Jeremy, you're amazing in The Apprentice."
The initial comment seemed to reference Downey Jr's praise of his former co-star.
"I love your work," Culkin continued, before dropping the f-bomb.
"It's f**king great," he supposedly continued.
"I'm not supposed to single anyone out. It's favoritism. Anyway, but you were great."
The Oscar winner ended his speech by giving a special shout-out to his wife Jazz, revealing a promise she once made to him about what might happen if he ever bags a golden statuette.
"About a year ago, I was on a stage like this, and I very stupidly publicly said that I want a third kid from her, because she said if I won the award, she would give me the kid," he explained, referencing the speech he famously made at the 2023 Emmys.
There, he bagged an accolade for his role in Succession.
"It turns out she said that because she didn't think I was gonna win," Culkin continued.
"People came up to her and were like really annoying her. I think it got to her. But anyway, after the show, we're walking through a parking lot.
"She's holding the Emmy. We're trying to find our car."
Giving someone a shout-out from home, he added: "Emily, you were there so you're a witness, and she goes, 'Oh, God, I did say that. I guess I owe you a third kid.' And I turned to her, and I said, 'Really, I want four.'"
The audience then burst into laughter, before the Academy Award-winner went on to recall: "And she turned to me, I swear to God, this happened. It was just over a year ago. She said, 'I will give you four when you win an Oscar.'
"I held my hand out. She took it, and I have not brought it up once, until just now. You remember that, honey, you do?"
After the camera then panned to Jazz - sitting in the audience smiling - Culkin continued: "Okay, then I just have this to say to you, Jazz, love of my life…No pressure. I love you.
"I'm really sorry I did this again, and let's get cracking on those kids. What do you say?"
The biggest Oscars snubs ever
Citizen Kane loses to How Green Was My Valley (1942)
Orson Welles’ epic tale of the rise and fall of a media baron topped BFI’s Sight & Sound poll of the best films ever made for 40 years, but this apparently wasn’t enough to win an Academy Award.
The gong instead went to How Green Was My Valley, which it’s fair to say has not stood the test of time to quite the same extent.
To add insult to injury, Welles had a falling out with the Academy prior to the ceremony, and the audience booed every time his name was mentioned.
Citizen Kane was nominated for nine Academy Awards, but only took home the statuette for Best Original Screenplay.
E.T. loses to Gandhi (1983)
Even Richard Attenborough, who ended up winning Best Picture for his biopic Gandhi, thought Steven Spielberg’s E.T. should have won.
He is quoted in Joseph McBride’s Steven Spielberg: A Biography as saying of the moment his win was announced: “I didn’t go to the podium, I went over to Spielberg. He got up, I put my arms round him, and I said, ‘This isn’t right, this should be yours'."
Spielberg’s tale of the bond between a lonely child and a horrifying looking alien remains one of the most beloved films of all time, absolutely dominating the box office following its 1982 release
The Shawshank Redemption loses to Forrest Gump (1995)
While both of these films are pretty much universally adored, The Shawshank Redemption still tops IMDb's 250 highest rated list and is regularly cited as one of the greatest movies of all time.
While in hindsight, the fact the film failed to win any of the seven Oscars it was nominated for is pretty odd, The Shawshank Redemption was a box office bomb, and in the year of its release was massively overshadowed by Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction.
Nevertheless, one fan admitted they were ‘blown away to find out that the movie didn't win a single Academy Award’ on Reddit.
Saving Private Ryan loses to Shakespeare in Love (1999)
In yet another upset for Steven Spielberg, his epic World War Two drama lost out to romcom Shakespeare in Love.
This has since been chalked up to the sinister machinations of Harvey Weinstein, who Den of Geek reports started a ‘whisper campaign’ claiming the only good part of Saving Private Ryan was the first 20 minutes, with the rest being ‘sentimental hokum’.
DreamWorks marketer Terry Press recalls Spielberg telling him ‘I do not want to get down in the mud with Harvey’ when he was urged to fight back amid Weinstein’s bullish campaign tactics.
Brokeback Mountain loses to Crash (2000)
The following year saw another shock Best Picture upset, with the widely reviled Crash triumphing over Brokeback Mountain.
A Reddit user called it ‘truly the greatest robbery of all time’.
Director Ang Lee claimed in a 2024 Deadline interview that support for his tragic gay love story ‘had a ceiling’ amid the Academy of the time.
He even recalls being told to stay in the wings of the stage in-between his Best Director win and the announcement of Best Picture, being told by a stage manager: “Everybody assumes you will win.”
It’s clear this one still hurts for many cinephiles, with one calling Crash’s win ‘absolutely criminal’.
Topics: Celebrity, US News, Oscars, TV And Film
Rhianna Benson