Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

7 Best Jewish Moments From The Oscars

There was plenty of glitz, tears and jaw dropping awkwardness (yikes with the “Moonlight” best picture mix up!) to go around during Sunday’s Academy Awards show.

From a Ivanka Trump dig to a JCC shout-out, we pulled together the best Jewish moments of the night.

1) Host Jimmy Kimmel ribbed President Trump for his claim that Meryl Streep is “overrated,” by listing all of her many, many “lackluster” accomplishments. He finished off his bit by asking Streep: “Nice dress by the way – is that an Ivanka?”

Image by Getty

2) Mel Gibson’s film “Hacksaw Ridge” may have been up for a slew of nominations, but that didn’t stop Kimmel from pointing out the director’s history of racist, anti-Semitic comments. When “Hacksaw Ridge” star Vince Vaughn came on stage, Kimmel said of the actor: “Our next presenter is one of the stars of Hacksaw Ridge, which is nominated for Best Picture. It is the story of the conscientious objector who decides to work with Mel Gibson anyway.”

Image by Getty

3) Seth Rogen and Michael J. Fox stepped out of a DeLorean together, and then sang ‘The Schuyler Sisters’ from Hamilton. Enough said.

Oh and P.S., Lin-Manuel Miranda was LOVING it.

4) Natalie Portman might not have been able to make the ceremony because of her baby’s due date but she did make an appearance in a segment that took on internet trolls. Portman, along with a slew of other A-listers, read aloud the worst tweets they’ve gotten.

5) When Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul picked up the best original song award for La La Land’s “City of Stars,” Pasek had a very special message for his mother. “She let me quit the JCC soccer team to be in a school musical,” he said. “So this is dedicated to all the kids who sing and write and all the moms who let them!”

Image by Getty

6) Sara Bareilles sang a stunning version of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” during the “In Memoriam” segment. Carrie Fisher, Gene Wilder and Anton Yelchin were among those honored.

7) In the night’s most insane mix-up, “La La Land” producer Jordan Horowitz took to the microphone after realizing that his film had been incorrectly credited for winning best picture.

“This is not a joke,” Horowitz said. “Moonlight has won best picture.”

Watch the chaos unfold below:

Thea Glassman is an Associate Editor at the Forward. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter at @theakglassman.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.