Oscars viewers have branded a bizarre James Bond musical segment as “pointless” – and one of the “worst” moments in the ceremony’s history.
Around 90 minutes into the four-hour-long event, a tribute to the British spy franchise’s outgoing producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson was introduced, one week after the rights to 007 were acquired by Amazon.
The sequence was kicked off by Demi Moore’s Substance co-star Margaret Qualley, who performed a dance routine to the iconic Bond theme, before singers Doja Cat performed “Diamonds are Forever” and Raye sang “Skyfall”.
Lisa, the Thai singer currently seen in season three of The White Lotus, also featured, dancing to “Live and Let Die”.
Viewers watching along at home questioned the length of the sequence, with many wondering whether Daniel Craig’s replacement as Bond was about to be announced. However, that wasn’t to be.
“I’m a huge James Bond fan but unless they are announcing the new Bond I don’t see the point…” one person wrote on X/Twitter, with another chiming in: “This James Bond montage and performance is cool and all, but it has no relevance to… anything about the last year in movies.”
An additional viewer wrote: “I’m so confused. Why are we honouring Bond if there’s no new movie out and we don’t even know when the next movie is coming out?”
One boldly declared it “One of the worst tributes I have ever seen at the Oscars”.
It was also argued that the segment should have been scrapped in favour of performances of this year’s Best Original Song nominees.
Jonathan Ross, who was leading the UK’s Oscars coverage on ITV, joked that the choreographed sequence made him think “we’d gone to Strictly Come Dancing’s Blackpool special”.
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“Those songs are so iconic – and even though all three of them are great singers, it’s not the same,” he said, with Mariella Frostrup stating: “I didn’t really understand the concept, to be honest.”
For the last five weeks, this year’s nominated films, including Sean Baker’s critical darling Anora, Brady Corbet’s sweeping epic The Brutalist and pope drama Conclave, have been battling it out in what has become the closest awards race in years.
While Netflix’s divisive Emilia Pérez was an early frontrunner, amassing an impressive 13 nominations in total, a furore involving lead star Karla Sofía Gascón has seen the musical’s chances drift.
Meanwhile, actors who are in contention to become Oscar winners include Demi Moore (The Substance), Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown), Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain) and Emilia Pérez’s Zoe Saldaña.
Find the full list of winners here.
