Oscars 'didn't care' enough about ICE, Iran politics, Hollywood Reporter laments

22 Mar 2026 By foxnews

The Academy Awards "didn't care" enough about the Iranian war or immigration raids, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"Turn on the show oblivious to current events, and you'd never have guessed the U.S. just launched a war whose heat ratchets up by the day," senior editor Steven Zeitchik wrote Monday.

While some Oscar participants did reference political issues while on stage, they were "mostly lesser-knowns" or international figures like actor Javier Bardem, who said, "No to war and free Palestine," before presenting an award, The Hollywood Reporter journalist conceded.

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The editor also acknowledged that celebrities hope not to become an "easy target for the stay-out-of-politics lines" on the right but warned that they continued to prove critics right by remaining silent.

"The problem is that saying nothing also helps their cause - makes you seem irrelevant by your timidity. Talking about the beauty of cinema and the collaboration of co-stars while wars rage at home and abroad has the effect of making you look out of touch," Zeitchik wrote.

Zietchik complimented late-night host Jimmy Kimmel for being a "lonely island" of one in making political jabs against President Donald Trump. However, Kimmel did not reference Iran or issues with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.

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Oscars host Conan O'Brien also largely avoided politics during his monologue outside his brief swipe at Kid Rock and Turning Point USA's alternate Super Bowl halftime show.

"I should warn you, tonight could get political, OK? And if that makes you uncomfortable, there's an alternate Oscars being hosted by Kid Rock. Yeah, it's at the Dave & Buster's down the street. A lot of tickets for that," O'Brien said.

Zeitchik called out the irony in O'Brien's warning that the show would "get political" after O'Brien failed to bring up ICE or Iran. He took further umbrage at the Academy giving the Best Picture award to the politically charged movie "One Battle After Another" without anyone from the film addressing immigration issues.

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"Dude, I'm going to assume at this point the cast knows they're appreciated. If they don't, that's a bigger problem. But you know who doesn't know and might like to hear some appreciation? The people on the front lines fighting the kind of Steven Lockjaw nativism you so elegantly skewered in your film. They could have really used that shout-out from that big megaphone you had," Zeitchik wrote.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for comment but did not immediately hear back.