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Controversial Wins

The most common source of controversy over Oscar winners is that viewers believe there were better contenders that year. While the Academy Awards can be criticized as predictable by viewers, some award winners pulled upsets that put the voting process by the Academy into doubt. Awards season campaigning has been prevalent in recent decades, leading the cynical to believe that the Oscars are given out as a result of producers shaking hands with voters behind the scenes rather than objective quality.

1986: 'Out of Africa' wins Best Picture

With a director with the pedigree of Sydney Pollack and stars like Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, "Out of Africa" seemingly had all the right ingredients for an Oscar-worthy picture. But upon release, the romantic drama film ended up with more of a lukewarm reception due to a long running time and for Redford's performance. Even today, critics are baffled by how "Out of Africa" took the top spot that night, especially over Steven Spielberg's adaptation of "The Color Purple."

2017: 'Moonlight' wins Best Picture after presenter flub

The win for Barry Jenkins' coming-of-age drama "Moonlight" wasn't particularly controversial, but rather how the win during the televised ceremony came to be. Initially, presenters Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty accidentally announced the winner of Best Picture to be the musical film "La La Land." However, that was the result of a mixup by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, who was in charge of tallying up the votes and handing envelopes to presenters. "La La Land" producer Jordan Horowitz announced the real result to the confused audience. The musical film had been previously predicted to be the winner but was criticized for its whitewashing of American jazz.

1999: 'Shakespeare in Love' wins Best Picture over 'Saving Private Ryan'

Steven Spielberg's war drama "Saving Private Ryan" is considered by critics and viewers to be not only one of the best war films of all time but one of the greatest films period. Imagine their surprise when period romantic-comedy-drama "Shakespeare in Love" pulled an upset win for the most prestigious film prize. The win is attributed to producer Harvey Weinstein's aggressive campaign for the film, which has set the tone for Oscar campaigning since then. But the win didn't age well due to the accusations of rape and sexual harassment toward Weinstein that garnered much attention in 2017.

2003: Roman Polanski wins Best Director for 'The Pianist'

When Roman Polanski won the Academy Award for Best Director with "The Pianist," he did not walk up on stage to accept the trophy; in fact, Polanski was not in the United States at all, as stepping foot in the U.S. would have resulted in his arrest. Even after his guilty plea for statutory rape, Polanski's peers in the filmmaking community supported him at the time. In the wake of Time's Up and Me Too, however, Polanski's work and accolades have been reexamined. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expelled Polanski from its membership in 2018.

At the 94th Academy Awards, Will Smith took home the prize for Best Actor for his performance in "King Richard" as the titular Richard Williams, the father and longtime coach of tennis superstars Venus and Serena. Smith's acting had earned him acclaim in the months leading up to the awards, but during the ceremony, before the Best Actor winner was announced, Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock who'd made a joke at the expense of Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. The show went on, and Smith apologized during his acceptance speech, but the fallout came in the weeks after. Smith ultimately resigned from the Academy and was banned from attending the Oscars for the next decade.

While Smith's win was immediately met with backlash, other Oscar wins may not have been controversial at the time but become questionable in retrospect. Sometimes the wrongdoings of individuals involved in decorated films are later unearthed or are resurfaced after such a win.

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Harry Styles

Ex-member of One Direction, Harry Styles is an English singer, songwriter and actor. Styles released his self-titled debut solo album through Columbia Records in 2017. It debuted at number one in the UK and the US and was one of the world's top-ten best-selling albums of the year, while its lead single, "Sign of the Times", topped the UK Singles Chart. Styles' second album, Fine Line (2019), debuted atop the US Billboard 200 with the biggest ever first-week sales by an English male artist, and was the most recent album to be included in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2020. Its fourth single, "Watermelon Sugar", topped the US Billboard Hot 100. Featuring the chart-topping single "As It Was", Styles' third album, Harry's House (2022), was widely acclaimed and broke several records.

His albums include ‘Harry Styles’ ‘Fine Line’ & ‘Harry’s House.