Trump angrily reviews the 2021 Oscars
Former President Donald Trump is once again mad about the Oscars — and not just for the reasons you might think.
On Tuesday, Trump released a statement complaining about Sunday's Academy Awards, and he seemed surprisingly hung up on the show being referred to as the Oscars. "What used to be called The Academy Awards" now is "called the 'Oscars' — a far less important and elegant name," he wrote.
While producers in 2013 re-branded the awards ceremony as just the Oscars in advertising, the two terms are still used interchangeably, and the Academy's official website referenced this year's show as the "93rd Academy Awards." The ceremony is also often called the Academy Awards during the telecast, and the "Oscar" nickname itself dates back to the 1930s.
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Trump, who has long offered his negative reviews of the Oscars including while in office, also gleefully pointed out the show's ratings plummeted to an all-time low this year while demanding the Academy "go back 15 years, look at the formula they then used, change the name back to THE ACADEMY AWARDS, don't be so politically correct and boring, and do it right." Fifteen years ago would be the 2006 Oscars, so perhaps he's just a big fan of Crash.
Either way, after an Oscars that did draw heavy criticism all around for its disastrous ending, one of Trump's top complaints apparently being the actual name of the ceremony was certainly an unexpected take. Still, he certainly wasn't the first person to slam this year's show as being a bit "boring," and he offered at least one reasonably popular take: "ALSO, BRING BACK A GREAT HOST." Trump, though, may have a particular person in mind.
"The Academy Awards last night were absolutely terrible — boring, ugly sets, everything," Trump said back in 2015. "I have the perfect host for next year: me."
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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
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