The Academy have never been ones to shy away from controversy. This year’s nominations announcement caused all sorts of outrage across social media, with fans pulling their hair out over the fact that The Lego Movie was not nominated for best animated feature. Or that hat Ava Du Vaerney and David Oyelowo didn’t receive nominations in the best director and best actor field respectively for their work in Martin Luther King biopic Selma.

These were just three of many huge snubs made this year, but this is hardly the first time this has happened so in this article we are going to take a look back at ten of the Academy’s biggest mistakes- whether they be snubs or undeserved awards.

 

10: Crash winning Best Picture, 2006.

crash

Heading into the 78th Academy Awards back in 2006 everyone had their money on Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain to win Best Picture, and with good reason. The film was a beautiful and poignant tale of forbidden love which tackled homosexuality and homophobia in a way never before seen on film.

So it was a huge surprise when it was announced that Paul Haggis’ rather forgettable Crash had taken the prize instead.

It has remained some what of a mystery as to just how this film won, but the fact that the Academy is famously dominated by older, white males probably has a lot to do with it. Crash was a much more conservative tale, with a big name cast that wasn’t likely to offend anybody. This was a major misfire on the part of the Academy.