One late celebrity was visibly absent from last night's Oscar Award's memorial tribute: Joan Rivers. The Academy paid tribute to many great talents that the entertainment industry lost this year, including Robin Williams and Lauren Bacall, but left out the queen of the red carpet herself, who passed away in September.
Many viewers were upset about the omission and took to Twitter to call out the Academy for "snubbing" Rivers and making a glaringly obvious mistake leaving out a woman who belonged in the "In Memoriam" segment as much as anyone else.
Rivers wasn't just the host of Fashion Police and, as much as she positioned herself as such at times, wasn't an industry outsider. She was a comedic heavyweight who wrote and directed the 1978 film Rabbit Test and starred in movies that included Serial Mom, The Smurfs, Shrek 2, and Iron Man 3.
Although Rivers was the primary focus of the Academy's big fail, Broadway actress Elaine Stritch was also left out of the video segment.
More from The Stir: Joan Rivers Gets Her Final Wish for a Red Carpet Funeral
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released a statement today explaining the omission:
Joan Rivers is among the many worthy artists and filmmakers we were unfortunately unable to feature in the In Memoriam segment of this year's Oscar show. She is, however, included in our In Memoriam gallery on Oscar.com.
Sounds a little #sorrynotsorry, don't you think?
Rivers was a legend. She deserved to be honored and recognized for her 50-plus year career. The decision to leave her out was definitely a questionable one.
In case you missed it, here is the Oscar's In Memoriam segment:
See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.
What do you think about the Academy's decision to leave Rivers out?
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