The late actor was widely expected to win Best Actor at the 93rd annual Academy Awards for his role in ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’, but Anthony Hopkins nabbed the prize instead.
AceShowbiz -While Oscar winners may be currently celebrating their victories, some viewers have been left disappointed with the result, particularly the Best Actor win, after watching the Sunday, April 25 live telecast. Leading to the 93rd annual Academy Awards, Chadwick Boseman was widely expected to win in the category following his wins at other major awards, including Golden Globe Awards and SAG Awards, but that didn’t happen tonight.
Instead, in a surprising twist, Anthony Hopkins nabbed the Best Actor award for his role in “The Father“. While it doesn’t necessarily mean that the veteran actor’s acting was bad in the said movie, the late star’s fans felt like he was being robbed of his supposed first posthumous Oscar.
Taken aback by the Best Actor win which was announced the last at the televised event, one Twitter user wrote, “anthony was phenomenal. good for him truly. but how are you gonna 1) speed the absolute f**k out of the in memoriam segment and 2) switch up the order of the awards to make your audience think you’re gonna give chadwick some sort of tribute and then just……. not. feels cruel.”
Another echoed the sentiment, “them pushing best actor till the end just for chadwick not to win was very f**ked up and it feels like they exploited his death for views.” A third sarcastically remarked, “ok rearranging the categories for the first time ever trying to end on best actor in order to honor chadwick and then instead giving the award to hopkins who isn’t even there… actually a really good bit, bravo.”
Another disappointed fan simply exclaimed, “OMG, Chadwick should have won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Taking issue with the last few last minutes of the show, someone complained, “An absent Anthony Hopkins winning over Chadwick Boseman during a ceremony built to end around a Boseman win while Joaquin Phoenix awkwardly stumbles through it all is…wow. Chaos!”
“I might be howling at the wind like Frances McDormand but that was the worst possible way to end this broadcast…,” a sixth user wrote. Another baffled viewer tweeted, “Sorry… what just happened? That has got to be the most shocking last 10 minutes of an Oscars EVER.”
Not everyone was upset by Boseman’s loss though. Hopkins’ fans thought that his Oscar win was well-deserved, with one pointing out, “anyone who knows someone suffering from dementia will understand just how good Anthony Hopkins performance was. This is his greatest ever acting without doubt.”
“I saw all the best picture nominees and all the films for best actor and actress. So sad that Chadwick died, but Anthony Hopkins fully deserved his Oscar,” another noted. Someone else added, “Yeah! Anthony Hopkins was fantastic in The Father. Well deserved!”
The Academy has not responded to the criticism over Boseman’s upset loss. Meanwhile, the Sunday night show celebrated the “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” star during an In Memoriam tribute, which was opened by Angela Bassett. Stevie Wonder‘s “As” was played as a montage of late actors and filmmakers like Cicely Tyson, Sean Connery, Kelly Preston and Christopher Plummer was seen on the screen.
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