The Academy Awards have always been filled with controversy at all levels, ranging from petty disagreements over who should or should not have won all the way to accusations of racism and homophobia and actual physical violence, such as the viral 2022 slap that Will Smith gave Chris Rock after a joke made at the expense of Smith’s wife. Sometimes the movies themselves that have been Oscar winners have been controversial or have revolved around controversial topics; others have been the spark for intense discussion and debate.
Whatever the case may be, one thing we can count on every year from the Academy Awards ceremony is a heavy dose of drama and controversy—which is, after all, part of the reason why so many people tune in to it time and time again. However, some Oscar winners and nominees have produced more memorable controversies than others. Listed below are ten movies that sparked controversy at the Oscars.
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10 Crash vs. Brokeback Mountain, 2006
Focus Features
By far, one of the most controversial Oscar winners in history was the award for Best Picture given to Crash in 2006. Its competitor, Brokeback Mountain, was a film set in 1963 and depicted two albeit married cowboys who participated in a romantic relationship which they kept a secret from their wives for over 20 years, as homosexuality was not a widely accepted practice in the 1960s. It was, apparently, not acceptable enough for 2006, either, as many people believe that Crash upset Brokeback solely because of homophobia present within the Motion Picture Academy—not because it actually had a better picture.
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This led to a controversy surrounding the voting process of the Oscars, particularly the objectivity of the process. Despite the upset, Brokeback Mountain eventually went on to win three Oscars, even though it was ultimately banned in both China and Utah cinemas. This controversial win went on to change the makeup of the Academy voting pool, bringing in more diverse viewpoints and steering away from old-school Hollywood views.
9 Bohemian Rhapsody Wins Best Editing, 2019
20th Century Studios
The 2018 film Bohemian Rhapsody was a controversial win for a variety of reasons. For starters, the movie itself faced quite a bit of backlash after its director was accused of sexual assault and subsequently fired. Critics also believe that the film did not direct enough attention to the LGBT+ community or the AIDS crisis of the time. The movie revolved around the life of Freddie Mercury and his rise to fame, and, according to LGBT viewers, it did not focus enough attention on this vital part of Freddie’s story.
The most controversial point of all, however, was the fact that the film won the Award for Best Editing, even though the movie’s editing was so notoriously bad that a viral video that eventually garnered over 3 million views surfaced with criticisms surrounding the film’s erratic cuts and cringe-worthy editing. Many critics state that Bohemian Rhapsody was one of the worst edited films of the year, which turned its Academy Award win into a mockery. Even the film’s editor John Ottoman publicly admitted that Bohemian Rhapsody was not his best work, stating, “Whenever I see it, I want to put a bag over my head” (The Washington Post, 2019).
8 Green Book vs. Roma, 2019
Universal Pictures
Yet another controversial Academy Awards winner was that of Green Book in 2019. Green Book, a film about an African American pianist and an Italian American bouncer hired to be his bodyguard as he tours the deep south, was actually based on a true story and written by the pianist’s son. The film was criticized for its depiction of people of color—particularly its depiction of the main character, Don Shirley—and it reportedly promoted the “white savior” narrative and held a “racial reconciliation fantasy.”
In 2019, the New York Times reported that the film espoused the narrative that “prolonged exposure to the black half of the duo enhances the humanity of the white, frequently racist counterpart” (New York Times, 2019). Although the movie went on to win not only Best Picture in 2019, but also Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor, it has also been described as a “sanitized biographical drama” that white-washes this era of racism.
The movie also faced controversy because the majority of critics believed that Green Book’s competitor, Roma, deserved the award more, and that they only lost due to the Academy’s predisposition toward movies that were not Netflix originals.
7 Blow-Up, 1967
MGM
Although an older movie, Blow-Up sparked enough of a controversy during its time to make this list. Unlike the others, Blow-Up did not actually win an Oscar, though it was nominated for two. The movie faced controversy for being incredibly sexually explicit for its time period, and it was actually originally condemned by the National Legion of Decency and fell short of the MPAA Prodution Code for containing “unacceptable content,” though it was later released and presented in cinemas across North America.
Although the content in this movie is considered tame compared to media released today, the climate and culture of the 1960s was vastly different than in 2023, and the movie was certainly explicit for its time. Despite its loss at the 1967 Academy Awards, Blow-Up went on to win several awards.
6 Life of Pi, 2013
20th Century Fox
In 2013, Ang Lee won the Best Director award for his work on The Life of Pi, and his acceptance speech sparked one of the most game-changing controversies in Academy Awards history. Despite the movie’s production causing the bankruptcy of the visual effects studio Rhythm & Hues and the immense amount of work put into the movie by the VFX team, Lee gave no credit or recognition to this part of his staff. During his speech, Lee even went so far as to thank the entire country of Taiwan, yet left out the VFX TEAM entirely.
Bruce Banit, a VFX artist who has been nominated for eight Emmys and has created visual effects for popular television shows such as Lost, Star Trek: Voyager, and Breaking Bad, had this to say in a Facebook post regarding Lee’s award: “Neither Ang nor his winning cinematographer, Claudio Miranda felt they needed to thank or even mention the VFX artists who made the sky, the ocean, the ship, the island, the meerkats and oh yeah … the tiger. Ang thanked the crew, the actors, his agent, his lawyer and the entire country of Taiwan right down to the team that built the wave-pool on the soundstage where Pi was shot. But failed to mention 100s of artists who made not only the main character of the tiger, but replaced that pool, making it look like a real ocean for 80% of his movie.”
Lee’s controversial speech incited a protest outside the Academy Awards ceremony that contained more than 450 people.
5 Apocalypse Now, 1980
United Artists
The 1979 movie Apocalypse Now, which was loosely based on the novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won two: one for Best Cinematography, and one for Best Sound, with cinematography being one of the few attributes of the movie that most viewers agree was executed well. And while the film’s cinematography was widely beloved, the film has been described as “anticlimactic,” “intellectually disappointing,” and “emotionally obtuse.” Others have claimed that the movie glorified war and touted an “American nationalism and supremacy” mindset, with one man even recounting how his marine platoon watched the movie so that they could get “excited for war.”
4 Taxi Driver, 1977
Columbia Pictures
Although the 1976 film Taxi Driver was nominated for four Academy Awards, the film actually did not win any of them. It famously sparked quite a bit of controversy for its depictions of graphic violence and for casting an actual 12-year-old girl as a child prostitute—a decision which earned the film quite a bit of backlash. The director of the movie reportedly had to heavily edit the film to bring it down from an X rating to an R rating, and was still viewed as being extremely graphic for its time. John Hinkley Jr., the man who attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan in 1981, cited Taxi Driver as the inspiration behind his murder attempt.
3 Out of Africa vs. The Color of Purple, 1986
Although the movie Out of Africa wasn’t controversial in and of itself, it sparked controversy with its win simply because the majority of critics preferred its competitor, The Color Purple. Viewers were particularly unhappy with the performance of actor Robert Redford, who played the love interest Denys Finch Hatton, and many expressed the opinion that the movie was too slow and went on for too long. The vote that led to Out of Africa’s infamous win led to skepticism over the validity of the award, with some more cynical viewers accusing the Academy of accepting payment for votes.
2 Manchester by the Sea, 2017
The 2017 film Manchester by the Sea, which followed a grief-stricken father who accidentally causes the death of his children and then must care for his young orphaned nephew. The actor who played the main character of the movie, Casey Affleck, went on to win the Oscar for Best Actor—and this is where the controversy ensues. Although the movie itself received widespread critical acclaim, Affleck’s win after being accused of sexual harassment on the set of the 2010 documentary I’m Still Here sparked actress Brie Larson—who handed Affleck his award—to silently protest his win by not clapping for him at the ceremony. Larson, who famously played the part of a sexual assault victim in the movie Room, has publicly spoken out against sexual violence before, so her protest does not come as much of a surprise.
1 Platoon, 1987
Orion Pictures
The controversy surrounding Platoon’s three Oscar wins comes with little surprise, as filmmaker Oliver Stone has faced controversy with every movie he has ever made. However, Platoon, another Vietnam War movie, came during an era of sensationalized war dramas and propaganda surrounding the Vietnam war—and, unlike the others, it cut no corners. Unlike its variety of counterparts during the 1980s, Platoon depicted the Vietnam War exactly how it was: realistic, unidealistic, and horrifying. It was nominated for eight Oscars and won three of them, but its criticism came over its portrayal of black soldiers. It has also been banned in Vietnam.
From simple disagreements to outright violence, racism, and homophobia, the Academy Awards has brought controversy to the forefront year after year. Although some cases have called into question the Academy’s objectivity and credibility, one thing viewers can all agree on is that the Oscars are sure to bring forth drama and excitement—and perhaps this is one of the very elements that keeps viewers returning to the screen time and time again.
