The 2026 Oscars featured plenty of huge moments including digs at British ‘pedophiles’, a heartbreaking tribute to Rob Reiner and a surprise tie for one of the awards
The Oscars 2026, aka the biggest night in Hollywood, featured several huge moments that had audiences going wild, including some that made history.
US comedian Conan O’Brien hosted the awards live from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, as Hollywood celebrated some huge films, such as Sinners, One Battle After Another and Hamnet. There were several wins that made history – Sinners’ cinematographer Autumn Durald Arakpaw became the first woman and the first woman of colour to win Best Cinematography, while KPop Demon Hunters’ hit song Golden was the first KPop track to win Best Original Song.
These historic firsts were underscored by a fantastically rare moment where two films won the same award. For just the seventh time in Oscars history, a tie meant there was more than one winner for Best Live Action Short.
But the awards were not the only big moments from the ceremony, as there were plenty of points where the Oscars made headlines for other reasons, such as the beautiful tributes to the stars that had died in the past year, and a cameo from former Vogue editor Anna Wintour. Here are the biggest moments from the 2026 Oscars…
READ MORE: Jessie Buckley wins Best Actress Oscar for Hamnet ‘This is the greatest honour’READ MORE: Oscars tie explained as The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva both win same award
One category ends in a tie, as two winners take home the prize
The award for Best Live Action Short went to two films in a rare moment occur for the awards show’s history. Both The Singers, a short musical comedy, and Two People Exchanging Saliva, a French language drama, have won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short.
The award was presented by Kumail Nanjiani, who was just as shocked as audiences when he announced that it was a tie and two films had won. Presenter Conan O’Brien was also shocked, and thanked the films for “ruining” millions of Oscar betting pools.
This is only the seventh time a tie has happened. The first tied Oscar happened in 1932 when both Fredric March and Wallace Beery won Best Actor. At the time, anyone within three votes of the winner would also get the award but this tie triggered a rule change meaning films and stars have to get exactly the same votes for a draw to happen.
Autumn Durald Arakpaw and Sinners make history
Autumn became the first woman to win Best Cinematography at the Oscars. She won for her work on the hit film Sinners. She was not only the first woman, but the first woman of colour. Backstage she shared how she hopes a “lot of little girls who look like me will want to become cinematographers” as the room full of journalists give her the loudest cheers of the night in the press room.
On stage, she also told every woman in the room to “stand up” as without the women who paved the way in the film industry, she felt she would not have won her award.
Autumn has previously worked on huge films with Sinners’ director Ryan Coogler such as Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. She was only the fourth woman to even be nominated for Best Cinematography and the first woman of colour.
KPop Demon Hunters also makes history
KPop Demon Hunters won the award for Best Original Song for Golden. The hit song is the first KPop track to win the award. It was not the only win for the film, as it also took home Best Animated film.
The song has been hugely popular since the film came out, with it reaching number one in several countries including South Korea, the US and the UK. The song has been nominated for several other awards this season, including a Critics’ Choice, a Golden Globe and two Grammys.
At the Oscars, singer Ejae spoke first and said: “Growing up, people made fun of me for liking K-pop, but now everyone’s singing our song and all the Korean lyrics. I’m so proud. And I realised, the song, this award is not about success; it’s about resilience.”
She continued to share her thanks before one of her co-writers, Yu-Han Lee, tried to add in his thanks. But just as he began to speak, the orchestra started to play the winners off and the show jumped to an advert break.
Michael B. Jordan wins Best Actor
The actor won for his roles as twins Smoke and Stack in Sinners. He emotionally shouted out the “giants” that came before him, including Halle Berry, Will Smith and Sidney Poitier.
This was Michael’s first Oscars win. On stage, he thanked “everybody in this room and everybody at home for supporting my career. I know you guys want me to do well, and and I wanna do that because you guys bet on me. So thank you for keeping on betting on me.”
Michael became a favourite for the award after Timothee Chalamet found himself in hot water for ‘disrespecting’ the ballet and opera communities in a town hall prior to the Oscars voting closing. Timothee’s comments about the two arts, in which he said “no one cares” about them, caused deep controversy online and earned the star criticism from the likes of Steven Spielberg. Michael’s odds of winning also jumped up after he won an award at the Actor Awards at the beginning of the month.
Jessie Buckley wins Best Actress
After sweeping the awards prior to the Oscars, Jessie Buckley took home the award for Best Actress. She dedicated her award to the “chaos” of a “mother’s heart” after pointing out that it was Mother’s Day in the UK.
The star also jokingly said she wanted “20,000 more babies” with her husband as she thanked her family in her speech. She said: “Thank you to the incredible women that I stand beside; I am inspired by your art and your heart, and I want to work with every single one of you. To the producers who created this ship for us to stand in, and my shipmates for life—Hilda, Jessica, Lindsey, Zack—none of this is possible without you.
“My family, my Irish family, they’re all here. Mom, Dad, thank you for teaching us to dream and to never be defined by expectation and to carve from your own passion. You, Fred, I love you man. I love you; you’re the most incredible dad. You’re my best friend, and I want to have 20,000 more babies with you, I do. I do! And Isla, my little girl who is eight months, who has absolutely no idea what’s going on and is probably dreaming of milk, but this is kind of a big deal, and I love you and I love being your mom, and I can’t want to discover life beside you.
She finished by saying: “It’s Mother’s Day in the U.K. today, so I would like to dedicate this to the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart. We all come from a lineage of women who continue to create against all odds. Thank you for recognizing me in this role. This is the greatest honour. I can’t even believe it.”
Anna Wintour makes an appearance
Ahead of the release of The Devil Wears Prada 2, both the film’s star Anne Hathaway and it’s rumoured inspiration Anna Wintour took to the stage to announce the winner of Best Costume Design.
As they presented the award, Anne, who was dressed in a black and floral strapless dress, asked the former Vogue editor what she thought of her outfit. In a hilariously shady move, Anna gave Anne a snide look and chose to ignore the question, instead saying: “And the nominees are…”
The award went to Kate Hawley, the costume designer for Frankenstein. The netflix film won three awards throughout the night, all in the technical categories. These were for costume, hair and makeup, and production design.
One Battle After Another wins Best Picture – and most awards
One Battle After Another won six awards, the most of the night. This included Best Supporting Actor, for Sean Penn, who did not turn up to the show, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Casting, Best Director and Best Picture. The win for Best Director was a first for Paul Thomas Anderson, despite the star being nominated 14 times before.
Paul used his speech to thank his supporters for their faith in him. He said: “There will always be some some doubt in your heart that you deserve it but there is no question at the pleasure of having it for myself.”
He added: “I’m here because of people’s faith in me – that give me their faith and their time, and that’s the best part about being on a film crew, is being with people. We need each other. This is a wonderful gift, and I’m so happy to call the movies home. This is really terrific. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love it.”
Conan O’Brien takes dig at British ‘pedophiles’
Conan O’Brien didn’t hold back the punches in his opening monologue at the Oscars, as he made a joke about recent British arrests. He started by noting that no British star had been nominated in the Best Actor or Actress categories for the first time in years. He then joked: “A British spokesperson said: ‘Yeah but at least we arrest our paedophiles…'”
The joke follows the recent arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor for misconduct in a public office following the release of the Epstein files. His arrest was not related to any allegation of sexual misconduct. However across the Atlantic it reignited demands for accountability from Jeffrey Epstein‘s survivors and US lawmakers, who called for a full investigation into the late sex offender’s many high profile associates in the US.
The former prince has consistently and strenuously denied any wrongdoing.
Billy Crystal leads tributes to Rob Reiner in heartbreaking ‘in memoriam’
Billy Crystal led the tribute to Rob, after having known him for years and appearing in his film When Harry Met Sally. “My friend Rob’s movies will last a life time,” Billy said. He added that when his wife Michele entered his life, Rob became “unstoppable”. Billy described Rob and Michele as the “driving force” behind marriage equality in the US and said “their loss is immeasurable”.
Billy, who choked up as he spoke, concluded with: “For those of us who had the pleasure of working with him and loving him, all we can say is: Buddy we had fun storming the castle.”
He was then joined on stage by several of Rob’s friends and co-workers, including Kathy Bates and Meg Ryan. Billy and Meg were the two leads in When Harry Met Sally, which is widely regarded as one of the best romantic comedies of all time.
Barbra Streisand’s musical tribute to Robert Redford
The singer and Best Actress Oscar winner Barbra led the tributes to Robert Redford at the end of the ‘in memoriam section’. After talking about how much she loved Robert, Barbra ended her tribute by launching into song.
She sand The Way We Were, her hit song from a 1970s film of the same name that she starred in with Robert. It was the SECOND time she has sung that song at the Oscars. Thirteen years ago, she performed the same track to honour its late composer, Marvin Hamlisch, as part of the ceremony’s In Memoriam segment.
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