LOS ANGELES – American actor Al Pacino sought to explain his awkward and abrupt announcement of Oppenheimer as the Best Picture winner at the Academy Awards, saying in a statement on March 11 that the producers had decided he would not read the full list of nominees.

“I just want to be clear it was not my intention to omit them, rather a choice by the producers not to have them said again since they were highlighted individually throughout the ceremony,” said the 83-year-old in the statement. “I was honoured to be a part of the evening and chose to follow the way they wished for this award to be presented.”

Instead of the typical lead-up to the most important announcement of the night, Pacino omitted the customary “And the Oscar goes to” followed by a dramatic pause, instead opening the envelope and proclaiming: “And my eyes see Oppenheimer.”

That prompted what appeared to be a moment of uncertainty that soon ebbed as the cast and crew of the film, including its director, Christopher Nolan, realised that they had won and began to make their way to the stage.

The anti-climactic end to the show became fodder for online chatter and memes on social media as viewers tried to figure out if something had gone awry. Comparisons to the Moonlight/La La Land Best Picture mix-up of 2017 were perhaps inevitable, but the temporary confusion at the March 10 ceremony was not close to reaching those levels.

In an interview with American magazine Variety, Ms Molly McNearney, one of the show’s producers, said Pacino’s presentation was “always supposed to be fast”, as the show had included video packages for each of the 10 nominees throughout the night and there had been fears that the telecast would go over its allotted time.

Ms McNearney acknowledged in the interview that the unconventional delivery had “made it a little confusing”, but said that “that’s the excitement of live television”.

After the ceremony, Mr Bill Kramer, chief executive of the academy, said in an interview that he had been pleased with Pacino’s performance.

“Everything went beautifully,” Mr Kramer said. “He was just having fun up there.”

Pacino, who won a Best Actor Oscar for his role in the 1992 movie Scent Of A Woman and has been nominated eight other times, said he had felt it necessary to make a statement on the reaction to his delivery because he “profoundly relates” to film-makers, actors and producers who might feel slighted.

“I realise being nominated is a huge milestone in one’s life and to not be fully recognised is offensive and hurtful,” he said in the statement.

Meanwhile, Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh took to social media on March 11 to clarify an awkward moment with American actress Emma Stone at the ceremony.

Yeoh, who won in 2023 for Everything Everywhere All At Once, was on stage with fellow Best Actress Oscar winners Jennifer Lawrence, Charlize Theron, Sally Field and Jessica Lange.

The five took turns to introduce the five Best Actress nominees – Stone, Annette Bening, Lily Gladstone, Sandra Huller and Carey Mulligan – before Stone, who starred in Poor Things, was announced as the winner. 

Stone, 35, went on stage to receive the statuette from Yeoh, who handed it to Lawrence, who then passed it to Stone.

“Congratulations Emma. I confused you, but I wanted to share that glorious moment of handing over Oscar to you together with your best friend Jennifer,” Yeoh, 61, said on social media on March 11. “She reminded me of my bae Jamie Lee Curtis – always there for each other.”

Curtis, 65, was Yeoh’s co-star in Everything Everywhere All At Once, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Stone and Lawrence, 33, are long-time friends who first met through American actor Woody Harrelson, according to People magazine. 

American broadcaster ABC’s telecast of the Academy Awards drew 19.5 million viewers, hitting a four-year viewership high, according to Nielsen. The live television audience was up from 2023’s 18.8 million, the third consecutive year that Oscar viewership has grown.

The ratings report will prompt cheers at ABC and the academy, which bumped the start of the venerable awards ceremony to 7pm Eastern Time (7am Singapore time, March 11), an hour earlier than usual, in the hope that more viewers would stick around through the final categories.

That approach appeared to pay dividends, as did the numerous nominations for big hits Barbie and Oppenheimer – a change from recent years when more obscure films dominated the ceremony. American TV host Jimmy Kimmel also received warm reviews in his fourth outing as host, leaving him one away from matching another late-night star who moonlighted at the Oscars, Johnny Carson.

Nielsen said March 10’s Oscars were the most-watched network awards show since February 2020, extending a recent trend in which viewer interest has perked up for the kind of mass cultural events that struggled during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In February, 16.9 million people watched the Grammy Awards, a 34 per cent increase from 2023. Viewership of the Golden Globes in January rose 50 per cent compared with a year ago.

The Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers in February beat ratings records with an audience of 123.7 million. Even ratings for the 2023 Tony Awards, traditionally the least-viewed of the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards) quartet, rose modestly. NYTIMES