Most controversial moments from Oscars history including Will Smith's slap incident

If we turn the pages of the Academy Awards book, we will see a bunch of controversial moments that rocked the Oscars ceremony. The most recent addition to Oscar's controversial moments came in 2022 when Will Smith shocked the world during the 95th Academy Awards by dramatically storming onto the stage and slapping host Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife Jada's bald head. This incident was just one of the many shocking and cringeworthy moments that have taken place at the Oscars over the years.

As we look back at the history of the Academy Awards, check out some of Oscar's most controversial moments. 

 

Angelina Jolie shocked the entire world on the 2001 Oscars red carpet as she shared a passionate kiss with her brother James Haven. 

The pair left onlookers shocked and instantly left a mark on the history of the Academy.

After that, Jolie won an Oscar and during her Oscar acceptance speech back Angelina famously said she is 'just so in love with my brother right now.'

 

One of the most ‘infamous’ Oscar moment is from the year 1974 when Robert Opel, a photographer and gay rights activist, walked on the stage naked after David Niven who was on stage to introduce Elizabeth Taylor. 

The artist reportedly reached to the backstage by pretending to be a reporter before stripping down and running naked. 

 

In March 1973, the legendary Marlon Brando won the best actor prize for his work in mob epic "The Godfather," besting a remarkable field of contenders -- Michael Caine, Peter O'Toole, Laurence Olivier and Paul Winfield.

But Brando did not attend, and Apache actress and activist Sacheen Littlefeather took the stage in his place. 

When actor Roger Moore offered her the golden statuette, she held up her hand in refusal, and he and co-presenter Liv Ullmann stepped back as she began to speak.

Before a stunned audience, Littlefeather said Brando "very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award" as he wanted to protest the movie industry's treatment of Native Americans. 

Her statement was met with applause, cheers and a few boos. 

The most memorable moment in recent Oscars history happened in 2017, when the Academy's top prize was briefly handed to dreamy musical "La La Land," when coming-of-age drama "Moonlight" was the actual winner.

It turns out accountants for PricewaterhouseCoopers, the firm responsible for tabulating and safeguarding Oscar votes and results, had handed presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway the wrong envelope.

They ended up with a duplicate of the best actress envelope -- a prize that went to Emma Stone for "La La Land" -- instead of the one that had "Moonlight" winning for best picture.

The embarrassing mix-up, the worst snafu in the history of the Academy Awards, came to be known as "Envelopegate."

"It was a heartbreaking fiasco," Entertainment Weekly critic Jeff Jensen wrote at the time.

"You felt embarrassed for Dunaway and Beatty, who clearly knew something was amiss when he opened the envelope but didn't know how to proceed."

Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to win an Academy Award, but getting her into the ceremony was a battle for her. Back then in 1939, the ceremony was held at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, it had a strict whites-only policy, and they allowed McDaniel but made her sit at a segregated table at the back of the room. However, when she took the stage to take the trophy, her emotional acceptance speech cemented her place in Academy history.

Before taking the stage to accept the Best Actor trophy, Will Smith jumped on the stage to smack presenter Chris Rock in the face with an open hand and hurled abuse at the comedian for making a joke about his wife`s appearance at the 95th Oscars ceremony. 

Minutes later, when accepting the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in 'King Richard,' Smith apologized to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and his fellow nominees but not to Rock.

The episode with Rock at first appeared to be a scripted joke but turned serious when Smith shouted out, "Keep my wife`s name out of your f-------ng mouth."

Director Michael Moore criticised President Bush for sending US troops to war in Iraq at 2003 Oscars.While political statements aren't new to award ceremonies, but, the way he directly called out a US President was shocking. ''We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons ... Shame on you, Mr. Bush, shame on you,'' he said. 

Sacha Baron Cohen promoted his film 'The Dictator' in a manner that no one would have thought. In 2012 Oscar's ceremony, he walked the red carpet in his film look of a middle eastern leader with a container in his hand, claiming of carrying the ashes of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, whose face was displayed on the container.