Viewers watching Conan O'Brien host the 97th Academy Awards from home on Hulu were enraged after a glitch during the livestream occurred at the worst possible time.
The feed cut off right before last year's Best Actress Oscar winner, Emma Stone, revealed this year's winner in the category and before the announcement of the Best Picture winner.
Instead of seeing the winners announced, the audience at home saw the screen go blank, and Hulu informed them that the program had concluded.
The message on television screens read:
"Thank you for watching! This live event has now ended. You may exit playback and select something else to watch."
Bluesky user Daniel Radosh posted a picture of his screen and quipped, "Congratulations Hulu. No notes."
Congratulations Hulu. No notes.
[image or embed]
— Daniel Radosh (@radosh.bsky.social) March 2, 2025 at 7:39 PM
For those glitched out of the livestream, Mikey Madison beat out Best Actress frontrunner Demi Moore for playing the titular escort in Anora, which also won Best Picture.
Viewers at home sounded off over being left in the dark.
Wow. Hulu just ended the live stream. Rude. #Oscars
— George Hahn (@georgehahn.com) March 2, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Cannot believe that #Hulu ended their stream of the Oscar's before best actress and best picture were announced. SMH
— MJRehoboth (@mjrehoboth-58.bsky.social) March 2, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Next level, have to respect their commitment to not letting you reconnect either
— talon (@talon.bsky.social) March 2, 2025 at 7:44 PM
I am not amused. Thank god they aren’t doing Eurovision
— Paul Guinnessy (@paulguinnessy.bsky.social) March 2, 2025 at 7:42 PM
I got the same! Switched to White Lotus
— Catherine Boyle (@catherineboyle1.bsky.social) March 2, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Thank you* Hulu for not realizing that the Oscar’s could go long and cutting off the livestream right before they announced best actress By thank you I mean I hate you
— Dax Smith (@photosmith.photography) March 2, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Anora swept with five statuettes, including four for its director, Sean Baker, who broke a record to become the first to personally win four Academy Awards for a single film, including for directing, editing, writing, and producing Anora.
When accepting the award for Best Original Screenplay, Baker stressed the importance of experiencing movies in theaters.
"Where did we fall in love with movies? At the movie theatres," said Baker. "Watching a film in a theatre with an audience is an experience.
He said going to the cinema now instead of watching movies at home was "more important than ever," especially "at a time when the world can feel very divided."
"It's a communal experience you just don't get at home," he maintained, adding:
"Right now, the theatre-going experience is under threat; independently owned theatres are struggling, and it's up to us to support them."
Yet another reason why going to the movie theater was not only more enjoyable but also more reliable.
Unbelievable, Baker was right about recommitting to theaters, streaming services are bullshit profiteers
— Blue Dolomieu (@bluedolomieu.bsky.social) March 2, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Hulu ruining the Oscars is really poetic coming after Sean Baker’s speech about streaming services killing the movies
— Ben Goggin (@bengoggin.bsky.social) March 2, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Hulu continued getting flak for a series of other errors throughout the program, including log-in issues.
While the streaming platform informed subscribers on X (formerly Twitter) that its tech team made "some backend changes to get things back up and running," several users were still unable to run playback, and others reported that the event completely disappeared from Hulu's page.
