The 2026 Oscars: 10 Shocking Moments That Had Nothing To Do With The Winners & Losers

Celebrating the best in cinema, the Academy Awards mark Hollywood’s biggest night. Often, the awards show also marks Hollywood’s most drama-filled night. Bringing together the best in Hollywood for a night filled with high stakes, surprises, and snubs is the perfect recipe for shock, drama, and scandals.

From kisses to slaps, edgy monologues to controversial jokes, sometimes the most shocking moments of the night have little to do with who wins or loses. The 2026 Oscars are no exception when it comes to the propensity to shock. Use our guide to find the 10 most shocking moments of the 2026 Oscars unrelated to wins and losses.

Conan O’Brien Recreated An Iconic ‘Weapons’ Scene

Host Conan O’Brien kicked off the Oscars with a hilarious Weapons parody. He paid tribute to the biggest horror film of the year, giving viewers quite the jump scare when the camera unexpectedly landed on him in full Gladys (Amy Madigan) glory. To top it off, he gets chased by a band of angry children through the scenes of several Oscar-nominated movies, running across the race track of F1 (2025) and riding in Sergio’s (Benicio Del Toro) car in One Battle After Another (2025).

O’Brien’s segment concluded with him and the kids bursting through the Dolby theatre and onto the Oscars stage. It was one of the best surprises of the night, especially since it directly preceded Madigan’s win for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Weapons. Additionally, for the second year in a row, O’Brien’s opening tribute to a horror film elevates the genre at an awards show that hasn’t always recognized it.

Timothée Chalamet Got A Bum Drum

Timothée Chalamet tends to be the butt of jokes at awards shows, but the Oscars took the trend perhaps a little too literally. Especially for those who didn’t get a chance to see Marty Supreme (2026), nothing could have prepared you for the unveiling of Chalamet’s bum drum. The model of Chalamet’s bum served as a drum at the Oscars, with a musician playing a tune on the bum using ping pong paddles as drumsticks while Chalamet looked on.

The awkward, shocking moment is a tribute to one of the most shocking scenes of Marty Supreme, when Milton (Kevin O’Leary) delivers numerous humiliating blows to Marty’s (Chalamet) bum with a ping pong paddle. Chalamet had the option to use a stunt double for the scene, but chose to use his own bottom. Even so, no one could have quite predicted his bum would make a cameo at the Oscars.

A Leonardo DiCaprio Meme Was Born

Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the most memed actors, but he’s also one of the most notoriously private. Fortunately, Conan O’Brien understood the assignment, using DiCaprio’s rare appearance at the Oscars to memorialize him in a surprise meme. O’Brien offered viewers a quick refresher on DiCaprio memes from his toast in The Great Gatsby (2013) to his snarky laugh in Django Unchained (2012). 

To add to the collection, the camera panned to DiCaprio for a new meme with the caption, “TFW you didn’t agree to this.” DiCaprio responded good-naturedly to the idea, throwing out a meme-worthy shrug. Regardless of whether he takes home an award, DiCaprio will still be the meme king when he leaves the Oscars.

The Oscars Had Its First Tie In Over A Decade

One of the biggest shocks of the night came from one of the Oscars’ most unassuming categories. Kumail Nanjiani took the stage to present the award for Best Live Action Short Film. Upon opening the envelope with the winner, he shocked audiences by announcing it was a tie. Given he’s known for his comedic work and that ties are so rare, he had to reiterate that it was not a joke, and the award, indeed, was a tie between The Singers (2026) and Two People Exchanging Saliva (2025).

While we weren’t really surprised by who won, the tie itself was quite strange. Even Nanjiani seemed a little uncertain of how to proceed, and we can’t blame him. Ties at the Oscars are exceedingly rare, with today’s tie marking only the seventh tie in history and the first since 2012.

We Got A Cap And Iron Man Reunion

If you weren’t aware of the Oscar presenters beforehand, you were in for a pleasant surprise when Chris Evans and Robert Downey, Jr. took the stage together. It was an especially nice treat considering we’re coming up on the 14th anniversary of the premiere of The Avengers (2012), where Evans and Downey first shared the screen as Captain America and Iron Man, respectively. In fact, Evans used their Oscars appearance to confront Downey about what he got him for the anniversary.

Downey wasn’t prepared for the anniversary, giving way to quite a hilarious bit. MCU fans were also likely to notice that Downey was wearing a dark green suit, seemingly already channeling his Dr. Doom villain with his signature color. Not only did the reunion take viewers back to The Avengers, but it also reminded us that a grander reunion is ahead with Avengers: Doomsday (2026).

Channing Tatum’s Thong Took The Oscars’ Stage

As Downey and Evans bickered about anniversary gifts, no one could have expected the gift Downey eventually came up with. Shockingly, he presented Evans with Channing Tatum’s lightly used, sparkly, sequined thong from Magic Mike (2012). Tatum quickly protested the gift, shouting from the audience, “I’m gonna need that back.”

When Downey demanded to know what Tatum needed the thong for, Tatum muttered that he was “working later.” It’s likely just a joke, but his comment still piqued our interest. While he has said he’s done with Magic Mike, the callback is just enough to make us hope for Magic Mike 4, although the 2026 Oscars seem determined to give us all the fill of bums and thongs we need.

Grogu Made An Adorable Cameo

Sigourney Weaver and Pedro Pascal took the stage at the 2026 Oscars to present the award for Best Production Design. The pair were there to promote their upcoming movie, The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026). In a shocking twist, the true star of the upcoming movie also made an appearance. Our favorite TV baby, Grogu, was there in the flesh, sitting next to Kate Hudson in the audience. However, it did prompt Weaver to take on her Aliens (1986) persona, shouting, “Get away from him, you b***h!”

Following the presentation, O’Brien also made a startling observation that Grogu can’t clap. They brought him to an awards ceremony when he couldn’t even clap. Between sparking an Aliens and The Mandalorian and Grogu crossover and having the audience on the edges of their seats waiting for him to clap, Grogu deserves an Oscar for the most adorable shock of the night.

The Tragic ‘Golden’ Acceptance Speech

One shock of the night that didn’t sit well came with the award for Best Original Song. K-pop Demon Hunters (2025) easily clinched the award for the smash hit “Golden,” with Ejae and her co-writers taking the stage to accept the award. Ejae delivered a moving acceptance speech. However, when one of her co-writers stepped forward for a turn at the mic, the music kicked in, cutting him off.

While the music is usually a signal that a speech is running over time, the Oscars have been known to cut it to give someone a chance to finish. Unfortunately, this time, the music drowned out his words before the show cut to a commercial break, ending the acceptance speech prematurely. “Golden” winning Best Song was monumental as the first K-pop song to take home the award, and failing to give more than one of its writers a chance to share in the acceptance speech was quite shocking.

Adrien Brody And His Gum Made A Comeback

Last year, Adrien Brody took home the Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in The Brutalist (2024). After his acceptance speech, the internet had quite a lot to say about his gum. When he won, he took a wad of chewed gum from his mouth and tossed it to his date before taking the stage. Evidently, he was not bothered by those who considered his stunt rude.

In a shocking twist, Brody decided to troll the audience with another gum incident. Taking the stage to present the award for Best Actor, Brody took his gum out of his mouth and pretended he was going to throw it again before popping it back in his mouth. He also poked fun at the criticism he received last year for his overly long speech, jumping straight into the nominees with as few words as possible. Getting trolled by Brody and his gum-chewing definitely wasn’t on our Oscars bingo card.

The Academy’s Dark Surprise For Conan O’Brien

As viewers were preparing to turn off the TV or change the channel after the final award of the night, they almost missed a surprise end segment with host Conan O’Brien. The segment shows O’Brien sitting outside after the Oscars ceremony when an academy member approaches him. The member reveals O’Brien performed so well that the academy wants to make him the Oscars host “for life.”

The academy commemorated O’Brien’s promotion with a brand new office. However, as he admires the office, he doesn’t seem to notice the academy member’s hasty exit. In a parody of One Battle After Another (2025), gas pours through the office vents, allowing the academy to dispose of O’Brien. To be fair, his monologue wasn’t among the funniest in recent times, but the academy’s methods were a bit extreme.