Billionaire Elon Musk expressed his disdain for the Academy Awards, characterizing the prestigious event as a "woke contest," questioning the current significance of winning an Oscar—and was widely mocked after backtracking when it was pointed out just how many of the night's winners were white.
In a post shared before the award show began, Musk originally stated that winning an Oscar meant "you were the best Quisling," a term referring to a traitor collaborating with an enemy. He later revised his comment, referring to the Oscars as a "woke contest."
However, Musk eventually backtracked on his initial criticism of the "woke contest," responding to a "surprising" post highlighting white winners at the Academy Awards.
In a follow-up comment to his original post, Musk admitted to being "wrong" in his earlier characterization of the Oscars.
With the exception of Da'Vine Joy Randolph, who won Best Supporting Actress for The Holdovers, the Best Actor (Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer), Best Actress (Emma Stone, Poor Things), and Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey, Oppenheimer) prizes went to white performers.
Oppenheimer had an all-white cast and the Best Picture and Best Director awards went to Christopher Nolan, who is white. Additionally, the Best Live Action Short Film prize went to Wes Anderson, the white director of The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and the Best Song award went to the (white) brother and sister team Finneas O'Connell and Billie Eilish for their work on "What Was I Made For" for the Barbie soundtrack.
This wasn't at all the "woke contest" Musk claimed it was—and Musk was swiftly mocked for saying so.
The Oscars, despite Musk's complaints, were not full of surprises, as most of the evening's winners had been predicted based on awards won during precursor events on the awards circuit.
Perhaps the night's biggest "surprise" came when Stone won Best Actress, denying Killers of the Flower Moon star Lily Gladstone the opportunity to become the first Native American ever to win in that category.
However, that category was largely considered a toss-up, with both women winning the overwhelming majority of awards throughout awards season in what Oscars prognosticators considered a neck and neck horse race.
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