"This is my ninth time hosting the Oscars," Billy Crystal declared as he opened the 84th Academy Awards. But could it be his last?
Unfortunately for Crystal, most of the reviews were lukewarm. The Washington Post noted that the 63-year-old host "was full of perfectly palatable jokes during the show, the kind you smirk at more than actually laugh" - while the Hollywood Reporter remarked that "the colossal hosting disaster from last year is now forgotten by the safe, unfunny, retro-disaster that was Crystal making jokes that he laughed at repeatedly and overseeing an Oscars telecast that was as poorly paced as any in recent memory."
But the lacklustre reviews are nothing compared to the flack that Crystal and the organisers are facing after he performed in blackface. In the opening montage, spoofing the films nominated for Best Picture, Crystal made an appearance as Sammy Davis Jr - in full black makeup - during his parody of Midnight In Paris. Hundreds of people took to Twitter to complain about it - along with a joke of Crystal's later in the ceremony, after Octavia Spencer won the Best Supporting Actress award.
"After I saw The Help I just wanted to hug the first black woman I saw," he said. "Which from Beverly Hills is about a 45-minute drive."
Do you agree that Crystal went too far? Or was it harmless fun? Leave a comment below. And in the meantime, watch Crystal's opening montage in full - and below that, see the Oscars' night biggest comedy stars.
Comedy stars at the Oscars:
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"This is my ninth time hosting the Oscars," Billy Crystal declared as he opened the 84th Academy Awards. But could it be his last?
Unfortunately for Crystal, most of the reviews were lukewarm. The ...
"This is my ninth time hosting the Oscars," Billy Crystal declared as he opened the 84th Academy Awards. But could it be his last?
Unfortunately for Crystal, most of the reviews were lukewarm. The ...
As predicted, The Artist stole the show at the Oscars 2012. Michel Hazanavicius' film was awarded with Best Picture, Best Director and Jean Dujardin picked...
The issue I have with so many movies today is that there is an incredible amount of gratuitous violence, gore, horrendous behavior, and just plain old nasty stuff.
On the eve of the 84th Academy Awards, I spoke with veteran Oscar stylist/designer, Dawn Haynes about her experiences styling and designing celebrities for the Oscar awards.
For every nominee who bursts into tears onstage, offstage there's four more gritting their teeth into dust and repeating "It's an honor just to be nominated" while hatching plots to leak sex tapes of the winner to TMZ.
Congress chooses five men to help determine access to birth control? AMPAS chooses five men to compete for "Best Director"? Suddenly people are asking themselves: Where are the women?
No more offensive than Eddie Murphy playing a Jew in whiteface. Both are talented SNL alum and decent impersonations made in fairly decent taste. Crystals jokes and impersonations are dated but not racists.
shockjock: No more offensive than Eddie Murphy playing a Jew in
He is just done. An old man holding onto faded glories. Outside of the Oscars when was the last time anyone even saw him? Time to let him retire and for the Oscars to move on.
Woorl: He is just done. An old man holding onto faded
Trust me Woorl ... if you survive to see them, you'll be in your 60s before you know it. And I bet you won't take kindly to being referred to as "old". Apart from that I agree with your comment.
EagLeo: Trust me Woorl ... if you survive to see them,
This is shocking. Yet another self obsessed luvvie who makes a living out of pretending to be someone else at frequent intervals tries to come up with 'alternative' comedy and gets it hopelessly (and predictably) wrong. On the upside he didn't witter on about world peace, climate change or the benefits of a diet of nuts and rainwater for a change. Pity rather than outrage is the appropriate response from the rest of us.
figurewizard: This is shocking. Yet another self obsessed luvvie who makes
As I said before, being white, I should be offended by the movie White Men Can't Jump. That is an insult to Whites, is it not? Yet, I am not offended. However, if I wrote a movie and called it Black Women Can't Drive - I'm sure all hell would break loose and racial tension would ensue. My point being that racism is like God - it exists only in the minds of people that need it to thrive.
tg9563: As I said before, being white, I should be offended
Here, here. Let's not forget the Wayans Brothers film White Chicks, where the entire premise of the film was dependant on them being in 'white' make-up. I doubt that, if he had been alive, Sammy Davis jr. wouldn't have cared, after all being in the brat pack (youtube them if your unaware) he heard a lot worse from his own group of friends.
As for the comment regarding the lady from the film the help, perhaps you are interpreting what he said incorrectly, maybe it was a jab at the fact that Beverley Hills chooses to be predominently white and makes it difficult for anyone else to be accepted.
pbrophylemay: Here, here. Let's not forget the Wayans Brothers film White
You really need to GET A LIFE. Its saddo's like you that ensure racism is kept in the forefront of peoples minds. "Let LOGIC prevail over nonsense"?????? Fool.
samandalfie: You really need to GET A LIFE. Its saddo's like
People don't seem to realise that to impersonate a black person (celeb or not) means donning blackface which is an acknowledgement that their colour is different and obviously a factor.....and that equals NO,NO.
What Crystal should have done was film the clip as himself, thus showing we are all really the same colour.
The only non biased presenter would be mixed race, thereby offending no-one. Lets hope he wouldn't dare to pretend he's all white, I for one would not be happy.
nortysam: People don't seem to realise that to impersonate a black
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The Huffington Post UK Andrea Mann First Posted: 27/02/2012 11:48 Updated: 27/02/2012 12:43