The Oscars continued the awards show tradition of honoring the recently deceased Sunday night. Some familiar and beloved names began to scroll across the screen: Mickey Rooney, James Garner, Maya Angelou, Robin Williams, Lauren Bacall. But as the minutes-long segment wound down, viewers began to notice a conspicuous absence.
How did they not include Joan Rivers?
— Mitchell Sunderland (@mitchsunderland) February 23, 2015
Indeed, Joan Rivers, an Oscars fixture and as true a “celebrity” as there ever was, was left out of the roll of names the awards show memorialized. As Billy Eichner noted, Rivers’ personality was practically sewed to the red carpet.
No Joan Rivers in the montage??? She basically created the red carpet which makes all of these bitches millions. For shame!!!
— billy eichner (@billyeichner) February 23, 2015
The Hollywood Reporter noted that Rivers’ omission wasn’t “egregious,” since she was a TV star and comedian, as opposed to an entrenched member of the film community. But her famous presence at the show each year pretty much made her an honorary type.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences commented to multiple outlets that the perceived snub was a matter of fitting Rivers into the segment.
“Joan Rivers is among the many worthy artists and filmmakers we were unfortunately unable to feature in the In Memoriam segment of this year’s Oscar show. She is, however, included in our In Memoriam gallery on Oscar.com.”
Rivers passed away in September.
