7 Memorable Oscars Jewish Moments That Will Have You Talking
Hollywood’s biggest night tackled its controversial lack of African American nominees head on with a monologue from Chris Rock that brought the house down at the Kodak Theater and had Twitter buzzing all night long.
And with Jewish presenters and winners bringing the laughter, and the tears, there were plenty of memorable Jewish moments to talk about.
1) I Love You in Hebrew!
Accepting the award for Best Adapted Screenplay for “The Big Short,” Charles Randolph thanked his wife in Hebrew with a sweet “Ani ohev otach, Mili” (I love you, Mili). His wife, actress Mili Avital, starred in “Chatufim,” the Israeli show “Homeland” is based on.
2) Sarah Silverman’s Yiddish:
Funny girl Sarah Silverman really let ex-lover James Bond have it for all the “meshugas” and never calling her back. She also gave the censors a run for their money.
3) Jack Black History Month:
With Rock’s jab after jab at #OscarsSoWhite, Angela Bassett paid homage to, who else? Jack Black in honor of Black History Month.
4) Amy Gets the Gold:
After a marathon of wins, the Amy Winehouse documentary “Amy” took home the Oscar for Best Documentary.
5) “Son of Saul” Wins Through Wagner:
The Hungarian Holocaust film “Son of Saul” took home the award for Best Foreign Feature.
As director Laszlo Nemes walked off the stage after his acceptance speech, the Oscars orchestra began playing Wagner before swiftly switching to the “Indiana Jones” theme music. But Twitter noticed, and no one was amused.
6) Emmanuel Lubezki Wins Again:
Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki won his third consecutive Oscar for “The Revenant.” He has also won for “Gravity” and “Birdman.”
7) Ali G Makes a Comeback
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO