2024 Oscars: Read Live Updates

On Friday, I wrote about something I’ve been thinking about all awards season: Hollywood’s relative silence about what’s happening in Gaza, which, as I wrote, is unfortunately unsurprising, but still very jarring for several specific reasons. Award winners often use their speeches to make stirring rallying calls — but only for selective causes. I suspect that silence will continue tonight, particularly given the major career consequences people across many industries, including in entertainment, have faced when calling for a cease-fire or expressing various forms of support for Palestinians.
A handful of stars this season have used red carpet moments to at least attempt to say as much as they can, such as wearing ‘Artists for Ceasefire’ pins. That seems to be continuing tonight: So far, I’ve spotted Ramy Youssef and Billie Eilish wearing them, and we’ll likely see some others as well. — Marina

I’m keeping my eye on this too, though I don’t expect a whole lot, considering what we’ve seen so far this season, as you’ve said, Marina. It did, however, strike me to read that there would be a greater police presence at this ceremony, on the heels of the Independent Spirit Awards where protesting could be heard during the live telecast. Considering how most people who took to the stage at the Spirit Awards tried to move forward with what were probably pre-planned speeches that had no acknowledgement of the conflict, I am interested to see if any Oscar winners tonight will engage with this real-life conflict as they accept their awards. So many people have faced severe repercussions for speaking out against the war, as you said, it would be interesting to see winners who could be at the height of their careers tonight also have to confront what has been considered a career killer just for speaking out. — Candice