94th Academy Awards Livewire: Hosts Shout ‘Gay Gay Gay,’ Politics Take Centerstage, Drama — Will Smith Smacks Chris Rock

Will Smith slaps Chris Rock, click here to watch it in full............

The event less than one one-hundredth of one percent of the world has been waiting for is finally here. The 94th Academy Awards is underway at 8 p.m. Eastern live from the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, California. Host-less no more, the three-hour ABC broadcast will be emcee’ed by not one but three left-wing celebrities: Actress-comedians Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes and Nine Perfect Strangers star Regina Hall.

Sean Penn called for a boycott of the Oscars and promised to publicly melt his statuette if Zelenskyy was not allowed to speak at the ceremony. pic.twitter.com/Jfpdx9idIE

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 27, 2022

Like seemingly every Oscars over the last decade, this one is steeped in controversy. Cutting eight awards and acceptance speeches — like hairstyling and makeup — from the live broadcast kicked off backlash with more than 70 Oscar winners, including James Cameron, Kathleen Kennedy, and Guillermo del Toro, warning that the change would turn some nominees into “second-class citizens.”

Those presentations started at 7:00 p.m. and will be edited into a broadcast that producer Will Packer has promised will be a tight three hours.

There were reports that host Amy Schumer lobbied to land a speaking segment to feature Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It’s unclear if that will happen but actor Sean Penn called for a broadcast boycott if Zelenskyy doesn’t make an appearance. Show producer Will Packer has said the war in Ukraine will be respectfully acknowledged during the broadcast.One things that’s different: Hollywood stars are going maskless on Sunday. But local preschoolers enrolled in the Los Angeles Unified School District are still being forced to wear masks while indoors.

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