Last night (March 10), the 96th instalment of the prestigious Academy Awards played host to some iconic moments celebrating the best of the entertainment industry.
The star-studded event, which was held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, featured the likes of Margot Robbie, Cillian Murphy, and Emily Blunt amongst other prominent figures who have all been trending names in the lead-up to the big event.
We saw Cillian Murphy take home the award for Best Actor for his performance in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer while Emma Stone clinched the victory for Best Actress for her role in Poor Things.
As for Best Supporting Actor and Actress, Robert Downey Jr. and Da'Vine Joy Randolph won in their categories respectively, with both stars taking home their first Oscars ever.
While there were multiple stand-out moments to discuss, there's one thing that a lot of people are talking about on social media: The red pins.
Many actors, including Billie Eilish, Ava DuVernay, Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef, and many more showed up wearing red pins with a hand symbol on them in support of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas while a protest taking place outside of the venue delayed stars' arrivals.
The campaign was launched by Artists4Ceasefire, a group of entertainers who penned an open letter to President Joe Biden to demand a ceasefire.
Since October 7, more than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
As the situation continues to get more dire, a famine threatens to claim the lives of more innocent people in Gaza with 25 people already dying of hunger and starvation.
Prior to the date, over 230 Palestinians had been killed in 2023 alone while numbers have reached the thousands in conflicts prior.
Speaking about the cause on the red carpet, Ramy Youssef, who recently portrayed Max McCandles in Poor Things, emphasized to The Hollywood Reporter why this cause was important.
"We're all calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza," he told the outlet. "We’re calling for the safety of everyone involved. We really want lasting justice and peace for the Palestinian people.
He continued: "We really just want to say, 'let’s just stop killing children.' There’s so much there to process and it feels like the easiest way to have the conversations that people want to have is when they're isn't an active bombing campaign happening."
Mark Ruffalo also praised protestors that stood outside of the Dolby Theatre, telling reporters on the red carpet that they "shut down" the Oscars while raising a fist in the air.
Other artists such as Anatomy of a Fall star Swan Arlaud and his 15-year-old co-star Milo Machado-Graner showed up to the event wearing Gaza flag pins on their blazers, in an epic and defiant protest against the genocide of the Palestinians.
Jonathan Glazer, the director of Auschwitz-set film The Zone of Interest also used his speech to denounce the Zionist plight, warning the audience of the dangers of selective empathy as well as what this could lead to.
"All our choices are made to reflect and confront us in the present. Not to say, 'Look what they did then,' rather 'Look what we do now.' Our film shows where dehumanisation leads at its worst," Glazer said after claiming the Oscar for Best International Film.
"Right now we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people, whether the victims of October 7 in Israel or the ongoing attack in Gaza," he added.
Our thoughts are will all those who have been affected by the ongoing tensions in Gaza.
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