Academy Award speeches can be memorable for a variety of reasons: Occasionally, the winner says something that becomes instantly quotable (Sally Field and her “You like me! Right now, you like me!”) or controversial (Will Smith tearfully accepting his Best Actor Oscar at the same ceremony where he slapped presenter Chris Rock earlier in the telecast).
After the common phrase, ” … and the Oscar goes to”, the recipients of the coveted golden statuette take to the stage to express their appreciation and gratitude from a pre-written note or their phone. Other winners are so genuinely shocked that they admit to not having anything prepared and wing it.
Whether a shoo-in or out-of-left-field win, honorees are expected to deliver an acceptance speech. Sometimes, they stick the landing. Other times, they get bleeped for profanity. After all, it’s live network TV — and there are FCC rules to abide by.
Here are some notable moments of celebrities getting censored on the Oscars stage.
2019: Spike Lee While Accepting the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for BlacKkKlansman
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Iconic filmmaker Spike Lee took home his first competitive Oscar in 2019 as part of the writing team that adapted Ron Stallworth’s memoir, Black Klansman, into the screenplay for the Lee-directed 2018 film BlacKkKlansman.
Lee — dressed in an all-purple Ozwald Boateng suit in honor of the late musician Prince — pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket as he walked up the steps to the stage. After jumping into the arms of presenter Samuel L. Jackson, a friend and frequent collaborator, Lee approached the microphone to a standing ovation and loud cheers. Before getting to his list of thanks, Lee’s opening line was promptly bleeped.
New York Times reporter Kyle Buchanan shared that night that Lee said, “Do not turn that motherf—— clock on.”
An uncensored version of his whole speech has since been posted on YouTube by the Academy.
2016: Kevin Hart Introducing The Weeknd
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Kevin Hart delivered a moving speech about diversity while presenting at the 2016 Academy Awards; however, a censor in Hart’s speech left many social media users at the time wondering just what the comedian said.
“I want to take a moment to applaud all of my actors and actresses of color that didn’t get nominated tonight,” the comedian said, addressing the #OscarsSoWhite controversy that plagued the award ceremony after people of color were shut out of all acting categories for the second year in a row.
“At the end of the day, we love what we do; we’re breaking major ground doing it,” he continued. “These problems of today will eventually become problems of the old. Let’s not let this negative issue of diversity beat us, let’s continue to do what we do best and work hard. With that being said …”
Then, amid an onslaught of applause, it seemed the comedian gave a “congratulations” to his fellow actors and actresses of color, but part of the comedian’s final statement — as well as the audience’s applause — was momentarily muted.
His actual words, though, were, “With that being said, goddamn it, congratulations,” as heard in this uncensored clip.
2016: Sound Editor Mark Mangini While Accepting the Oscar for Best Sound Editing for Mad Max: Fury Road
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Mark Mangini dropped the F-bomb when he and David White accepted the Oscar for Best Sound Editing on Mad Max: Fury Road, exclaiming, “F—–‘ Mad Maxers, let’s hear it!”
Though the Academy shared the uncensored speech on their official YouTube, those watching at home saw a bleeped version, as reported by Entertainment Weekly.
“I’m gonna hear it from my wife, so that’s about as big a regret as one can have,” Mangini later said backstage.
2015: Patricia Arquette While Accepting the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Boyhood
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As she composed herself to accept her Best Supporting Actress award for the 2014 coming-of-age film, Patricia Arquette muttered “Jesus” and then a word that didn’t get past the Oscars censors (as seen in the uncensored version on YouTube), though it looked like she merely said “whoa.” (Perhaps they thought she was going to say “Christ.”)
As IndieWire reported in 2024, saying “Jesus Christ” on prime-time broadcast television is an offense as censorable to the FCC as saying the word “f—.”)
So, while those at home didn’t hear that one word before her speech, they did hear her epic, meme-inducing call for wage equality, per Vanity Fair.
2012: Director T.J. Martin While Accepting the Best Documentary Feature Oscar for Undefeated
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Undefeated co-director T.J. Martin is also guilty of dropping an F-bomb during the telecast while flanked by co-director Daniel Lindsay and producer Rich Middlemas. In this case, he said it while giving a shout-out to their fellow nominees in the Best Documentary Feature category for their inspiration.
The uncensored version the Academy shared on YouTube shows Martin saying it would “be f—— wonderful” if everyone could be onstage with them.
“First and foremost, I’d actually like to apologize for that,” Martin later said backstage, according to Variety. “I don’t think that was the classiest thing in the world; however, with that said, it did come from the heart.”
2011: Melissa Leo While Accepting the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Fighter
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Arguably, the most well-known F-bomb drop in Oscars’ history goes to Melissa Leo. The actress, who appeared visibly nervous, dropped the curse word while joking that Kate Winslet made accepting the honor look “so f—— easy.”
While the official Oscars clip is censored, it looks like the word wasn’t bleeped during the broadcast, as captured in a video shared on YouTube.
Leo later discussed the moment during a 2011 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
“What I do know, I thought later on after it caused such a stir, is I was talking about Kate and remembering two years ago when I had been [at the Oscars] and this past summer, I got to work with Kate Winslet.”
Leo continued, ” … She’s delightful and curses like a sailor all the time. So she was in my mind. And, yeah … it’s Kate’s fault.”
Conan O’Brien is set to host the 97th Academy Awards, which will air live from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, at 7 p.m. ET on ABC and Hulu.