The 2026 Oscars delivered plenty of memorable moments that left winners, presenters and audience members crying, laughing and cheering. From Conan O’Brien’s rapid-fire monologue filled with pointed jokes and Avengers and Bridesmaids cast reunions to Anna Wintour channeling Miranda Priestly from Devil Wears Prada and iconic performances of “I Lied to You” and “Golden,” here are some of the most memorable moments from Hollywood’s biggest night on Sunday.
Host Conan O’Brien Drops Rapid-Fire Jokes
Conan O’Brien took the Oscars stage at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday night and launched into a rapid-fire monologue that verged into more political territory than the host had predicted it would in interviews leading up to the event. O’Brien dished out jokes ranging from mocking Timothée Chalamet’s ballet and opera controversy, making cracks about Sean Penn and Ted Sarandos and taking aim at the lack of arrests over the Jeffrey Epstein files. He also mocked the American health care system and right-wing Super Bowl counter-programming. O’Brien closed his monologue by sincerely addressing the current moment of global uncertainty amid the war in Iran. Read more. — James Hibberd
Category Ends in a Tie for First Time in 14 Years
The 2026 Oscar for best live-action short film resulted in expectedly big drama Sunday night when the category resulted in a tie. A stunned looking Kumail Nanjiani, who presented the category, deftly handled the nearly unprecedented situation when he opened the envelope and declared, “It’s a tie. I’m not joking. It’s actually a tie. So everyone calm down. We’re gonna get through this. Focus up.” Amid surprised murmurs in the crowd, Nanjiani explained he was going to announce one winner, and they would come up on stage and accept their award, and then he would name a second winner. Read more. — James Hibberd
Miles Caton Joined by Misty Copeland, Shaboozey and More for “I Lied to You” Performance
Miles Caton, Raphael Saadiq and the Sinners family hit the Dolby Theatre at the 2026 Oscars to perform a smashing rendition of the nominated song “I Lied to You.” The first of two performances from the best original song nominees, Saadiq, co-writer of the song, kicked off the performance as Caton followed him to perform the genre-blending track. Mirroring the scene from the film where his character Sammie Moore performs the song, the act featured a number of performers and musical sounds from across time periods and cultures. Read more. — McKinley Franklin
Avengers Stars Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans Reunite
Two of the original Avengers assembled Sunday night at the 2026 Oscars. Before they return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe later this year for Avengers: Doomsday, Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans hit the Dolby Theatre stage to present the awards for best adapted and original screenplay (that went to Paul Thomas Anderson for One Battle After Another and Ryan Coogler for Sinners, respectively). During the mini Marvel reunion, the Captain America star noted that they were coming up on the 14th anniversary of the original Avengers film. Read more. — McKinley Franklin
Jimmy Kimmel Takes Digs at Trump, Melania Doc and CBS
Jimmy Kimmel returned to his old stomping grounds Sunday night by hitting the Oscars 2026 stage to present a pair of trophies, and in the process he took some not-so-subtle digs at President Donald Trump, wife Melania Trump’s Amazon documentary and CBS. The four-time Oscar host, who joked that he was filling in for Conan O’Brien who stepped outside to get some air only to be incinerated by the sunlight (with his pale skin and all), walked a tight rope of paying respect to the seriousness of the documentary nominees (both short and feature length) while hitting a series of political punchlines. Read more. — Chris Gardner
Anna Wintour Channels Devil Wears Prada While Presenting With Anne Hathaway
Anna Wintour stepped into Miranda Priestly’s shoes for a moment while presenting with Anne Hathaway at the 2026 Oscars on Sunday. The Devil Wears Prada was based on Lauren Weisberger’s novel of the same name, which was inspired by her own experiences working as an assistant to Wintour. Prada followed Hathaway’s Andy Sachs, an aspiring journalist, who lands a job at the fictional prestigious magazine Runway, working as an assistant to cynical editor Miranda Priestly. The former editor in chief of Vogue, who now serves as chief content officer for Condé Nast and global editorial director of Vogue, took to the stage on Sunday to present the honor for best costume design and best makeup and hairstyling with Hathaway. Read more. — Carly Thomas
Bridesmaids Reunion Brings Laughs to Oscars
Ever since Paul Feig’s Bridesmaids cracked the box office code and became a hit in 2011, fans have been begging for a sequel. They’re still waiting — but the Oscars 2026 producers delivered the next best thing. Stars Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne and Ellie Kemper reunited on the Academy Awards stage inside Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre Sunday night. The showing, greeted by a partial standing ovation, came 15 years after the film’s release, and happened to land on the same night Byrne was nominated in the best actress category for her work in Mary Bronstein’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. (Fun coincidences: The A24 film also stars Conan O’Brien, who hosted Sunday’s Oscars; Rudolph’s longtime partner, Paul Thomas Anderson, was in the room to support his 13 Oscar nominations for One Battle After Another.) Read more. — Chris Gardner
KPop Demon Hunters Trio Dazzle With “Golden” Performance
The ladies of Huntrix, EJAE, Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna, took the Oscars stage Sunday, performing “Golden,” the hit song from the film. The KPop Demon Hunters performance started with the film’s opening of the “Hunter’s Mantra,” written by EJAE, to set the stage for the demon fighting K-pop girl group. Performers dressed in Korean hanbok acted out the opening before EJAE, Rei Ami and Audrey took the stage in front of a slew of dancers. The crowd was guaranteed to help the singers seal the honmoon, diligently bopping their light sticks, a mainstay in K-pop, along with the performance. Read more. — Nicole Fell
Winners and Presenters Slam Gun Violence, Politicians, Trump and Wars
While most winners and presenters at the 2026 Academy Awards kept their speeches apolitical, there were a few who used their opportunity with the microphone to call out politicians, gun violence and wars happening around the globe. Before revealing that Sentimental Value won the Oscar for best international feature film, Javier Bardem — who was also wearing a 2003 Iraq War protest pin — began with, “No to war and free Palestine.” After, once the filmmaker for the Stellan Skarsgård-led film took the stage, he also concluded his acceptance speech slamming politicians. “I want to end by paraphrasing the wonderful American writer James Baldwin, who makes us remember that all adults are responsible for all children, and let’s not vote for politicians who don’t take this seriously into account,” Joachim Trier said. Read more. — Carly Thomas
The 98th Academy Awards, hosted by O’Brien, were held on Sunday at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. Find the full list of winners here, and check out the red carpet arrivals.
