Oscars 2024: Al Pacino’s ‘Chaotic’ Best Picture Announcement Goes Viral

Martin Holmes
5 Comments
Al Pacino at the 2024 Oscars
Kevin Winter/Getty Images

While Christopher Nolan‘s Oppenheimer swept the 96th Academy Awards, it was Al Pacino who stole the show at the end of the night with his “chaotic” announcement of the Best Picture winner.

The legendary actor took to the stage to announce the winner of the much-coveted Best Picture category. However, Pacino didn’t even bother to read out the nominees, which included Oppenheimer, Barbie, Killers of the Flower Moon, Poor Things, American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers, Maestro, Past Lives, and The Zone of Interest.

Instead, The Godfather star immediately went to the envelope, stating, “Only one will take the award for Best Picture… uh, I have to go to the envelope for that. And I will. Here it comes.”

Pacino then opened the envelope and awkwardly said, “And my eyes see Oppenheimer…?”

“Yes, yes,” he continued as the orchestra began playing and the audience members rose to their feet to applaud and cheer the announcement.

As the camera panned back to a confused-looking Pacino, he could be heard asking, “What happened?”

Buzzfeed’s Spencer Althouse captured and shared the moment on X (formerly Twitter), and as of writing, it has garnered over 4.6 million views.

“I’m obsessed with the way Al Pacino announced Oppenheimer as Best Picture. Couldn’t have been more chaotic or confusing lol,” Althouse wrote.

“Don’t leave out the best part—Pacino saying ‘What Happened!'” another commenter replied.

“Al Pacino had no time to waste – straight to the point,” said another viewer.

Another joked, “The Oscars: Sir, could you please announce the nominations for the Best Picture category before announcing the winner? Al Paci-NO!”

For others, it brought to mind the infamous 2017 Oscars mishap when La La Land was incorrectly awarded the Best Picture trophy instead of the actual winner, Moonlight.

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“Everyone waiting for further confirmation from literally anyone before they celebrate because La La Land still haunts them,” tweeted one viewer. “Perfect. No notes.”

The mix-up happened at the 89th Academy Awards when Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty accidentally announced La La Land as the Best Picture winner. It was later revealed that the pair was mistakenly given the envelope for Best Actress, which was won by La La Land star Emma Stone earlier in the evening.

Moonlight was eventually announced as the correct winner, but not before the La La Land cast and crew had already made their way to the stage. The moment is regarded as one of the most memorable and awkward in Oscars history.

The OscarsAl Pacino



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  1. C

    CARL B in NYC

    My lord, that IN MEMORIAM segment was probably the most awful, disrespectful, incomplete and misguided edition ever telecast. Why was there a band stage right? Why was there a modern dance troupe stage left? Why did the wonderful Andrea Bocelli and his son have to steal focus singing center stage? And why on earth was the camera shot so wide and so far from the photos of the people being memorialized that you could barely read their names (if there were 1 to 5 visible) or absolutely not read the names in that circle full of them? It was disgraceful, and the Academy, the director and the producers should be ashamed of themselves. And to top it off, so many worthy names were omitted. How can they keep botching this up, year after year? As far as I am concerned, you are all fired!

    NEWSFLASH TO THE PRODUCERS: We, the audience can do three things at once: we can LOOK at the photos and READ the names of those being memorialized, and we can LISTEN to some music (instrumental or sung). Asking us to simultaneously watch a band playing, & dancers dancing, & singers singing IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. STOP THIS. PERIOD! 🤬👎

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    1. O

      OliveSnow

      It almost feels as if the producers/director are forced to do the segment, but don't want to, and their personal protest every year is to make a disrespectful shambles of it at every show. Why else would people in control of a televised production put forth something so poorly constructed for viewers, hear so much criticism about it, and then come back the next year and do the same thing or even worse? They clearly don't care about honoring the industry people who've passed on.

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        CARL B in NYC

        Agreed. They DO NOT care. But why does the Academy allow this? Even they do not care. It's unbelievable.

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        CyanScissors

        I agree! Could not read the names or view the small pictures of the dearly missed actors and actresses who have passed. Such an unprofessional and distracting way for the academy who specializes in film and production to say goodbye to stars who worked so hard for them. It should have been a grand firecracker celebration instead that would demonstrate the academies ability to stage their best ever innovative goodbye to the beloved performers and artistic people we will forever miss. A very special "In Memorial" program honoring with clips and summarizing all of the members who have passed during the past 96 years should be produced to compensate for the shoddy manner the Oscars has handled their farewells to their dearly departed which we the audience members supported and paid to see because we admired them. What an insult! How dare they!

  2. A

    Antonio Montealegre

    Al Pacino's appearance was a hoot!