All the Most Viral Moments of the Night

Oppenheimer headed into the night leading all films with 13 nominations, followed by the quirky Poor Things at 11, and Killers of the Flower Moon just behind at 10. The female leads of those latter two films, Emma Stone and Lily Gladstone, had been trading Lead Actress awards all season, making theirs perhaps the most uncertain category.

Barbie was next with eight nominations, though it wasn’t the lack of overall nominations that stirred the most controversy, but rather the lack of directing nod for Greta Gerwig and Lead Actress for Margot Robbie. Gerwig was still eligible to win for Adapted Screenplay, while Robbie would nab one as a producer if it won Best Picture, so it wasn’t a total shutout for the most prominent two women in film this past year.

At the same time, perhaps the most anticipated moment for the Jimmy Kimmel-hosted Oscars this year was Best Actor nominee Ryan Gosling taking the stage to sing the also Oscar-nominated song, “I’m Just Ken.” It was one of two nominated songs for the film, with Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” the favorite to win.

In the end, It was another big night for Oppenheimer, which took home Oscars for Best Actor, and Director. But one could argue that Barbie got the last laugh as Ryan Gosling delivered one of the most iconic moments and performances ever!

Add to that John Cena’s inexplicable nudity and an all-star lineup of Oscar-winning icons coming out five at a time to welcome the new class of actors and actresses to their ranks. Read on for all the biggest, most viral moments at the 2024 Oscars.

After guest-starring in Barbie in a scene we must have all missed, Jimmy Kimmel came out to start the show proper. He did not hold back with his monologue, setting the tone right away by thanking the crowd for their “partial standing ovation.”

He then turned on them when they gave a full and rapturous applause after he singled out Greta Gerwig and noted the controversy around her non-nomination as Best Director.

As the crowd roared, Kimmel turned on them, “I know you’re clapping, but you’re the ones who didn’t vote for her, by the way. Don’t act like you had nothing to do with this!”

He praised Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, as well, reminding that even if they don’t win Oscar gold tonight, “you’ve both already won something much more important, the genetic lottery.”

The enthusiastic crowd was less certain what to do with Robert Downey, Jr. as Kimmel poked fun at his career lows, and his struggles with addiction. RDJ took it on the chin, hilariously clapping back a silent “Keep it going, keep it going,” when Kimmel tried to linger.

The late-night host called out everyone involved in filmmaking for the growing length of their movies, pointing out that they are averaging 30 minutes longer than just three years ago.

“When I went to see Killers of the Flower Moon, I had my mail forwarded to the theater,” he quipped of the 3 hour, 26 minute film. “Killers of the Flower Moon is so long in the time it takes to watch it, you could drive to Oklahoma and solve the murders yourself.”

He got another strong reaction from an individual in the audience when he noted the nearly half-century gap between the last time both Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster were both nominated on the same night.

“48 years ago, Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster were both nominated for Taxi Driver, and they’re both nominated again tonight,” he noted. “In 1976, Jodie Foster was young enough to be Robert De Niro’s daughter, now, she’s 20 years too old to be his girlfriend.”

At this, De Niro laughed vigorously and Foster nodded just as vigorously.

For many, the highlight, though, was the appearance of Messi, the breakout star of Anatomy of a Fall and a very, very good boy! In fact, Messi’s appearance was in question up to the start of the show, making this a truly exciting reveal.

And Messi didn’t stop with just that appearance, actually offering a crowd reaction shot later in the broadcast. If you were impressed with Messi in the film … you will believe a dog can clap!

Finally, he brought out teamsters and the support staff for the Oscars to emphasize their upcoming negotiations, while calling back to the actors and writers strikes. He promised that the unions would all stand together, while digging at directors and (gently) Fran Drescher.

While pointing out how powerfully the unions stood strong, he paused to note, “Not the directors, you guys folded immediately.” As for SAG-AFTRA president Drescher, he joked that she’s since “returned to her volunteer work reading loudly to the hearing impaired.”

Brought back for only the second time ever, after a 15-year hiatus, the Oscars brought back five past icons (and Oscar winners) for each of the main acting categories to honor each nominee with a poignant introduction before welcoming one of them to their ranks.

Mary Steenburgen, Lupita Nyong’o, Jamie Lee Curtis, Rita Moreno, and Regina King were first up, introducing the nominees for Best Supporting Actress, which ultimately went to Da’Vine Joy Randolph.

“I didn’t think I was supposed to be doing this as a career,” she admitted, crediting her mother with pushing her to pursue this dream. “For so long, I’ve always wanted to be different,” she told the audience through tears. “And now I realize I just need to be myself and I thank you. I thank you for seeing me.”

For Best Supporting actor, the audience welcomed Sam Rockwell, Tim Robbins, Ke Huy Quan, Christoph Waltz, and Mahershala Ali. While introducing Robert De Niro, Robbins hilariously slipped up and called him “Oscar-winning” instead of “Oscar-nominated.”

De Niro will have to settle for enjoying the two Oscars he’s previously won — so Robbins wasn’t technically wrong — as this one went to Robert Downey, Jr. After thanking his wife, and his “terrible childhood” and the Academy, “in that order.”

“Here’s my little secret, I needed this job more than it needed me,” he said of Oppenheimer. “I stand here before you a better man because of it. What we do is meaningful and the stuff we decide to make is important.”

Next up was the powerhouse lineup of Nicolas Cage, Matthew McConaughey, Brendan Fraser, Ben Kingsley, and Forest Whitaker to introduce the Best Actor nominees. Like Fraser before him, Cillian Murphy enjoyed his first nomination and win in the same year.

Murphy’s Oscar follows a hugely successful awards season, where he picked up a Golden Globe, SAG Award, and BAFTA for his performance. “We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb, and for better or for worse, we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world,” Murphy said, “so, I would like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere.”

When it was time for Best Actress, the nominees were honored by the presence of Sally Field, Jennifer Lawrence, Michelle Yeoh, Charlize Theron, and Jessica Lange. This one has been an awards season-long battle between Lily Gladstone and Emma Stone, with the two actresses trading awards show.

In the end, the big one went to Stone, who immediately shared with everyone that her dress was broken, saying she thinks it happened during, “I’m Just Ken.” Through tears, she said that she shared the award with Gladstone, saying, “It has been such an honor to do all this together; I hope we get to do more together.”

As everyone puts so much thought into what they’re going to wear to the Oscars, John Cena knew what he wasn’t going to wear for one of the night’s funniest bits. After recalling the Oscars streaker incident, Kimmel tried to pointedly set up a recreation.

It was at this point that Cena poked his head around a piece of the set and said he didn’t feel comfortable doing it. Cena and Kimmel were both totally in it, with Cena in particular keeping a straight face while standing there in what had to be very little.

We know this, because after he refused, Kimmel just sent him out to announce the nominees … totally starkers.

“Costumes. They are so important. Maybe the most important thing there is,” said Cena after he’d finally shuffled sideways to the mic stand. After a pause, he added, “I can’t open the envelope.”

That folded bit of paper was certainly working its hardest to make sure that his naughty bits were nice enough for television. Luckily, by the time the nomination video finished rolling, Kimmel had him dressed elegantly in a curtain?

Oh, you thought it was over? It wasn’t over at all! The months-long feud between Barbie and Oppenheimer spilled onto the Oscars stage as Emily Blunt (O) and Ryan Gosling (B) came out to honor all the hard-working stuntmen and ‘women who help bring the action alive on the big screen, (complete with a very cool retrospective of the art).

It all started with a “frosty hello” from Gosling, which Blunt immediately called out. He said he was just glad the rivalry between their respective films was over, to which Blunt happily agreed.

After all, “the way this award season’s turned out, wasn’t that much of a rivarly.” As the audience responded to that burn, Gosling set up his retort, telling her he figured out why the double-ticket was dubbed “Barbenheimer” rather than “Oppenbarbie.”

“Well, I think you guys are at the tail end of that because you were riding ‘Barbie’s coattails all summer,” he quipped.

After a pause, Blunt responded, “Thanks for Ken-splaining that to me.”

Things then got dirty, and even funnier, when Blunt called out, “Alright, Mr. I-Need-to-Paint-My-Abs-on-to-Get-Nominated. You don’t see Robert Downey doing that!”

Their joint appearance also worked as a great promo for their upcoming joint project, The Fall Guy, which perhaps not so ironically has to do with stunts.

We thought it was going to be all about Twins when Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito hit the stage together to announce the Best Visual Effects winner. Turns out it was all about the Bat.

The former Batman villains reminisced about their roles as Mr. Freeze in Batman & Robin and the Penguin in Batman Returns, joking about how Batman defeated them. For Schwarzenegger, it was with love.

“He threw me out a window,” DeVito said, before both actors realized he was sitting right there in the audience. Kudos to Michael Keaton for staring them both down with his best Batman glare. We can’t say it was the reunion we expected — or even thought we were getting — but we were here for it!

The only thing that could have made it funnier would have been if George Clooney had been there as well and they’d managed to make some joke about there being multiple Batmen in the room.

After winning the Best Documentary Feature Oscar for 20 Days in Mariupol, director Mstyslav Chernov said, “Probably I will be the first director on this stage who will say, I wish I would have never made this film.”

Instead, he wishes his first-person account of the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was never a subject to be made. “I wish to be able to exchange this to Russia never attacking Ukraine, never occupying our cities,” he said.

“I wish to give all the recognition to Russia not killing tens of thousands of my fellow Ukrainians,” Chernov continued. “I wish for them to release all the hostages, all the soldiers who are protecting their lands, all the civilians who are now in their jails.

He then acknowledged that wishes can’t change reality, but that makes it even more important that projects like his exist. “I cannot change history. I cannot change the past,” he said. “But, we all together … we can make sure that the history record is set straight and that the truth will prevail and that the people of Mariupol and those who’ve given their lives will never be forgotten.”

“Because cinema forms memories and memories form history.”

How do you improve on an iconic musical number in one of the year’s biggest movies? You do exactly what Ryan Gosling did for the Oscars. Even if this doesn’t win the Oscar for Best Song it could win the award for greatest Oscars performance of all time!

He welcomed some of his fellow Kens from the film, and even Guns ‘N Roses guitarist Slash to the stage to create a moment that was so absurd it was beautiful. There were lyrics playing behind him and so much drama both Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie couldn’t believe what they were seeing — and hearing.

Fans were concerned that Gosling might not perform the song at all heading into the ceremony, but thank goodness he did. Maybe it was the challenge of bringing his very complex artistic vision to life. If we thought Ken was overly dramatic in the film, he definitely upped the ante here.