- Ellen DeGeneres’ widely circulated selfie at the Oscars was taken 10 years ago on March 2, 2014.
- This photo once confused the internet. How have times changed?
Ellen DeGeneres’ The internet-breaking Oscar selfie It was taken 10 years ago, so it’s quite old.
If you felt like going for a jog while hosting the 86th Academy Awards, then-ubiquitous TV talent gathered a bunch of Hollywood A-listers to take selfies with what appeared to be their cell phones midway through the ceremony. I took this photo.
Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts, Lupita Nyong’o, her brother Junior, Channing Tatum, Kevin Spacey, and a barely visible Jared Leto are pictured. The photo of the octopus went stratospheric after DeGeneres posted it. He posted it on Twitter, where it had amassed more than 2 million retweets by the end of the ceremony.
At one point, it became the most reposted photo of all time. And it was the laziest parody selfie. Despite Samsung’s denials, which subsequently offered the phone for selfies and spent $20 million sponsoring that year’s awards, this was an organized marketing effort to push its new phone to the forefront. Turns out it was a stunt.
The revelation that the moment wasn’t spontaneous isn’t the only reason feelings about the photo have soured since then. Indeed, it’s disappointing to learn that what we believed to be a nifty A-list, fun improvised moment actually turned out to be nothing of the sort. A clever form of product placementBut ten years on, many of the stars in the picture have become persona non grata, irrelevant or, simply put, uncool.
Let’s start with the obvious. Even though Kevin Spacey isn’t in the award-winning movie of the season, he somehow managed to get a seat close enough to the stage that he could jump behind the selfie, dominating the middle… I can see it.
His stellar career came to a shocking halt in 2017 following allegations of inappropriate behavior against him. Although he was acquitted and cleared of assault charges in trials in the US and UK, he still endures backlash with each accusation.
And then there’s DeGeneres herself. NBC’s long-running talk show, once a mainstay on our screens, came under intense scrutiny in 2020 after guests and employees accused it of a toxic studio culture filled with fear and intimidation. The series was canceled a year later, and DeGeneres has not appeared in a regular television role since.
Meanwhile, since this photo was taken, former Hollywood power couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have headed to Splitsville and their divorce was finalized in 2019, but things have gotten even more chaotic since then. The pair have been embroiled in a bitter lawsuit since early 2022 over their joint winery in France, as well as an ongoing custody battle over their children, which Jolie has accused Pitt of being abusive.
what else? Jared Leto may or may not be aspiring to be a cult leader, but Jennifer Lawrence has clearly done little wrong other than overexposing her, so the tide of public opinion on her It was against her.
That’s what’s happening in real time as Bradley Cooper launches an Oscar campaign for “Maestro.” The actor-director, who may be the least cool person in Hollywood right now thanks to his dedication to making Oscar-worthy films, seems to say this every time he opens his mouth. . He makes things even worse.
There’s not much to say about the likes of Channing Tatum, Angelina Jolie, and Julia Roberts, but when was the last time you were excited to see them in a movie?
If another Oscar selfie is taken at this year’s ceremony, we doubt these stars will be in attendance.
