The Academy Awards on Sunday delivered the moments many movie fans eagerly anticipate each year, from acceptance speeches to red carpet looks, but the 98th Oscars also featured something rare in its history: a tie.
“The Singers” and “Two People Exchanging Saliva” both won in the best live-action short film category.
“It’s a tie; I’m not joking,” said actor and comedian Kumail Nanjiani, who presented the award. “It’s actually a tie. So, everyone, calm down, we’re going to get through this.”
While rare in the nearly 100-year history of the Academy Awards, there have been Oscars ties before, and Sunday’s joint-win brings the total to seven.
The most recent was in 2013, when “Skyfall” and “Zero Dark Thirty” shared the award for sound editing. Before that, there was another tie in the live-action short category at the 1995 Oscars, when “Trevor” and “Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life” both won the award.
There have also been Oscars ties in some of the event’s most prestigious categories.
The first ever joint-win came in 1932, when Fredric March (“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”) and Wallace Beery (“The Champ”) both won for best actor. Then, almost 40 years later in 1969, Katharine Hepburn (“The Lion in Winter”) and Barbra Streisand (“Funny Girl”) shared the award for best actress.
The other two ties came in documentary categories, with “So Much for So Little” and “A Chance to Live” sharing the award for best short in 1950, and “Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got” and “Down and Out in America” both winning in the best feature category in 1987.
On Sunday, “The Singers” filmmakers took the stage for their acceptance speech first, with the makers of “Two People Exchanging Saliva” giving their own separate speech after.
“Ironic that the short film Oscar is going to take twice as long,” Nanjiani said between speeches.
Comedian Conan O’Brien, who hosted the awards, said following the speeches: “Congratulations to both winners, you just ruined 22 million Oscar pools.”
