Biggest moments from the 2024 Oscars, from Emma Stone's surprise win to naked John Cena
The 96th Academy Awards is now a wrap.
People cried, winced, laughed. A famous guy came out naked. Two actors from the year's biggest hit movies went at each other. Slash from Guns N' Roses was on hand to riff, and Andrea Bocelli to serenade.
If you missed some or all of the Oscars' big night, we've tallied the ceremony's more memorable moments, which ranged from an emotional acceptance speech by Da'Vine Joy Randolph to a beefy John Cena giving the well-dressed audience a glimpse of his birthday suit.
Here are more of the Oscars' best (and worst) moments from 2024:
A stunned and disheveled Emma Stone beats out Lily Gladstone for best actress (and rips her Louis Vuitton gown)
Emma Stone was a wonderfully hot mess as she got over her shock upon hearing her name as best actress winner (for “Poor Things”) and dashed up to the stage, grabbing at her back.
“My dress is broken,” she said. “I think it happened during (Ryan Gosling’s performance of) ‘I’m Just Ken.’ ”
Sure enough, her pale green gown had sprung a gap. “Don’t look at it,” she said as she walked off the stage later.
Stone was teary and weepy in the extreme as she thanked family and praised her fellow nominees, who included the odds-on favorite for the award, Lily Gladstone from “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
The award, she said, “is about a team that came together to become greater than the sum of its parts, which is the best part of making movies.”
When host Jimmy Kimmel returned to the stage, he looked in Stone’s direction and quipped, “Make sure you tear up the envelope,” a reference to the infamous 2017 mix-up when "La La Land" was erroneously announced as best picture after presenters were accidentally handed Emma Stone’s best actress envelope. (The real best picture winner was “Moonlight.”)
Ryan Gosling delivers with a rollicking performance (with Slash!) of 'I'm Just Ken'
Come on ? who would have predicted a Ken doll would get a standing ovation at the Oscars for a rocking performance?
Believe it, people. "Barbie" star (and supporting actor nominee) Ryan Gosling whipped the crowd into a frenzy with a rollicking rendition of "I'm Just Ken," one of the night's nominees for best song. Gosling, who performed the tune with the song's co-writer Mark Ronson, started in the audience before hitting the stage for a Busby Berkeley musical-worthy romp that really picked up steam when the fierce guitar solo in the song was rendered by none other than a black-leather-wrapped Slash. (And for eagle-eyed rock fans, the number also featured Wolfgang Van Halen providing his tasty bit of shredding as well.)
Kimmel held up a pair of pink pants after the performance and announced, "Look what I got off Ryan Gosling's body; can we start the bidding at $10,000?" Kimmel then pointed over to Bradley Cooper's mother, Gloria Campano, who jokingly raised her hand.
Host Jimmy Kimmel rubs Robert Downey Jr.'s nose the wrong way with joke about his drug-addled past
Kimmel managed to keep the show moving without incident, although early in the evening, he seemed to irk nominee and later best supporting actor winner Robert Downey Jr. when he made a joke at the expense of the actor's drug-addled past.
“This is the highest point of Robert Downey Jr.’s long and illustrious career. Well, one of the highest points,” Kimmel said as Downey pointed to his nose. “Was it too on the nose or was that a drug motion you made?” Downey then could be seen miming, "Let's move on."
Once onstage to accept his first Oscar, Downey promptly thanked "my terrible childhood and the academy, in that order."
A teary Da'Vine Joy Randolph gives an emotional speech as best supporting actress for 'The Holdovers'
Da'Vine Joy Randolph was already weeping as she headed to the stage to accept her award for best supporting actress. Although she had already collected a bushelful of awards for her performance in "The Holdovers," the singer-turned-actress was undone by her Oscar moment. But not so much that she didn't also provide the Hollywood crowd with a knowing laugh.
"I didn’t think I was supposed to be doing this as a career. I started off as a singer, but my mother said: 'Go across that street to the theater department. There’s something for you there,' " Randolph said, referring to her early years of training as an opera singer. But toward the end of her heartfelt speech, she abruptly veered off to thank her publicist, allowing that although this wasn't normally done, "you don't have a publicist like I have a publicist."
After the commercial break, Kimmel reminded the frazzled actress that she actually forgot to mention the publicist's name. She then quickly mouthed a name for the camera and smiled.
Surprise! Vanessa Hudgens' pregnancy reveal was the talk of the Oscars red carpet
Before the ceremony started, the red carpet was buzzing not just about the glamorous movie stars but also the very showy pregnancy of Vanessa Hudgens, co-host of ABC's Oscars pre-show telecast.
“I clearly have a lot to be excited for,” she said as the broadcast kicked off, placing a hand near the midsection of her black Vera Wang gown. Although she didn't bring up her mom-to-be status with the celebrities she interviewed, many congratulated her on the big news.
Emily Blunt ('Oppenheimer') and Ryan Gosling ('Barbie') engage in a hilarious 'Barbenheimer' smackdown
As Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling strolled out on stage to present a montage celebrating stuntmen and stuntwomen, no one had a sense that things would devolve into a winking catfight.
The duo, stars of the biggest movies of the year, "Oppenheimer" and "Barbie" respectively, started fake-sniping at each other, with Gosling saying the "Barbenheimer" phenomenon wasn't called "Oppenbarbie" for a reason: "You've been riding 'Barbie's coattails all summer."
Blunt shot Gosling a glare. "Thanks for Ken-splaining that to me, Mr. 'I need to paint my abs on to get nominated.' You don't see Robert Downey doing that!" It was some of the best acting of the night.
A very buff John Cena presents an Oscar in the nude
Half a century ago, the Oscars were famously interrupted when actor David Niven was upstaged by a streaker. Kimmel mentioned that historic moment and seemed to be prompting a repeat moment. When nothing happened, he walked over to the wings and upbraided John Cena, the onetime wrestler now actor, who was supposed to streak across the stage.
"I changed my mind," Cena protested. "The male body is not a joke." But Kimmel shamed him into doing it anyway, and the exceedingly buff and hairless Cena crab-walked sideways across the stage, his privates seemingly covered only by a large envelope. "Costumes are really important," Cena said before giving the best costume award to "Poor Things."
Jimmy Kimmel reads Donald Trump's diss aloud at the Oscars
Jimmy Kimmel took a moment before Al Pacino presented the best picture Oscar (to "Oppenheimer") to read a critical social media post by Donald Trump, in which the former president bashed Kimmel's hosting job on Truth Social.
“Has there ever been a worse host than Jimmy Kimmel at the Oscars?” Kimmel read to the audience. “Get rid of Kimmel and perhaps replace him with another washed up, but cheap, ABC ‘talent,’ George Slopanopoulos,” a reference to “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos.
Given that it was his show, Kimmel got the last word in, jabbing Trump about his myriad legal problems: “Isn’t it past your jail time?”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Oscars 2024 highlights: The best (and worst) moments you missed