Most Shocking Oscar Speeches of All Time

With the 94th Oscars ceremony upcoming – 28 March 2022 – many of us will be looking forward to the iconic speeches that undoubtedly come each year.

To prepare, RantCasino were keen to discover the most shocking and controversial Oscars acceptance speeches of all time and can exclusively reveal all!

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Top 5 Most Controversial Oscars SpeechesBreaking The Internet – 525% Search Increase For THIS ActorAfter Their Oscars Speech

Rank	Name of Nominee	Name of Film	Reason forControversy	Award Category	Date of Oscars	YouTube View Count
1.	Joaquin Phoenix	Joker	Vegan and Anti Cancel Culture Beliefs	Best Actor	92nd Oscars – 2020	11,652,896
2.	Marlon Brando	GodFather	Refused to Accept Award in Protest	Best Actor	45th Oscars — 1973	11,527,208
3.	Angelina Jolie	Girl, Interrupted	Over-AffectionTowards Brother	Best Supporting Actress	72nd Oscars — 2000	5,357,608
4.	Frances McDormand	Three Billboards	Called Out Lack of Diversity in Film	Best Actress	90th Oscars — 2018	3,334,313
5.	Fred Berger	Moonlight – La La Land	Award Given to Wrong Film	Best Picture	89th Oscars — 2017	2,376,403

“We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow, and when she gives birth, we steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. Then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf, and we put it in our coffee and our cereal.” — Joaquin Phoenix, 2020 

The most-watched Oscars speech on the list was accepted by Joaquin Phoenix, for his iconic 2019 role as the Joker.

The actor’s speech has been viewed over 11.6 million times (11,652,896) – with Phoenix using his 90 seconds to discuss his vegan and anti “cancel culture” beliefs – in a speech that has been described as “breaking the internet.”

Google Trends show a 525% increase in search volumes for Joaquin Phoenix in the two weeks between the end of January and the date of Joaquin’s speech (26/01—09/02), reaching peak popularity on the day of the speech – suggesting it truly did break the internet. 

Watch Joaquin Phoenix’s speech here.

“He very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award. And the reasons for this being are the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry.” — Sacheen Littlefeather, 1973 Taking second place is Marlon Brando’s controversial speech in which he refused to accept the award for Best Actor for his iconic role in the Godfather.

Racking up 11.5 million views (11,527,208 to be exact), Brando’s award was refused in person by Sacheen Littlefeather, a Native American actress, who symbolized Brando’s protest against the offensive portrayal of Native Americans in film.

Earliest Google Trends data shows that in December 2004, when data first began to be collected, searches for the speech reached peak popularity of the term – suggesting early internet users were desperate to see the unprecedented protest. 

Watch Marlon Brando reject the Oscar here.

“We lost, by the way.” — Fred Berger, 2017 In fifth place is the memorable moment from the 88th Oscars in which La La Land was mistakenly awarded Best Picture in place of Moonlight. The mistake was soon rectified but not before the awkward moment when producer of La La Land, Fred Berger, took the envelope from the presenter’s hand and revealed its contents to the audience.

The shocking moment has been watched over 2,376,403 times and search volumes for Fred Berger saw an eye-watering 2300% increase between January and February when the Oscars took place, according to Google Trends.  

Watch the mix-up happen here.

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