Film & TV2 min(s) read
Reason Trump's name can't be mentioned during Oscars despite subtle jibes
If you're expecting the Oscars to be politically charged tonight, then you may be surprised at one small detail - the name of sitting US president Donald Trump not being mentioned.
Like, at all.
This turns out to be a conscious choice by the Oscars host, comedian Conan O'Brien, who has committed himself to not directly naming Trump in any jokes throughout the ceremony.
Why can't Trump's name be mentioned at the Oscars?
Second-time host Conan O'Brien has made a point of elaborating on the choice to not spotlight Trump in any material in tonight's ceremony.
Speaking on The New Yorker Radio Hour, O'Brien said that the President had become 'bad for comedy' in recent years, as real-life events are quickly outpacing any satire.
O'Brien expanded on this by saying: "When comedians get angry instead of clever, it doesn’t land."
Therefore, in order to steer the ceremony away from any political ire, the President's name won't be mentioned by O'Brien during the ceremony.
This hasn't stopped him from bringing up Trump in subtle ways, however.
One of the biggest jokes of the night so far involved a very close-to-the-bone joke about Trump's manhood.
Of course, recent events in the US have made it clear that Trump is paying very close attention to any criticism given to him, especially by comedians.
Jimmy Kimmel's late-night talk show was famously suspended off-air last fall over comments its host made about the assassination of far-right mouthpiece Charlie Kirk.
One of Kimmel's late night colleagues, Stephen Colbert - a frequent critic of the President - found out that his show would be cancelled following its latest season, which is set to end this year.
Elsewhere at the Oscars
As ever, there has been no shortage of headlines from tonight's show, with the big news so far being that Sean Penn picked up a third award, despite not actually being there to do so.
He didn't turn up to get his award, perhaps for reasons that he has previously alluded to, but joins a very exclusive club as a three-time winner.
Sinners and One Battle After Another have been the big winners of the evening, as expected, although there was a rare occurence in the Best Live Action Short category as the award was tied between two films.
That's only happened a handful of times before, so we're lucky - sort of - to have witnessed it tonight.
You can bet there'll be more drama before the night is over.