The 2024 Oscars will be taking place this weekend, and without doubt will include memorials to those that have tragically passed this year. It’s one of the most moving segments of the night, but in 2017, Jan Chapman’s death was ‘announced to the world’ by mistake at the Oscars.
Jan Chapman is an Australian movie producer including The Last Days of Chez Nous and The Piano. She was born in 1950, and at 74 years old is still alive and well, however, seven years ago, a massive blunder at the Oscars had people worried.
Jan Chapman’s death ‘wrongly announced’ at the Oscars
Australian costume designer, Janet Patterson sadly died in 2017 and was mentioned in that year’s memorial. However, mistakingly, a picture of Jan Chapman was used.
Understandably, Chapman said she was “devastated” by the blunder.
“I was devastated by the use of my image in place of my great friend and long-time collaborator Janet Patterson,” she told Variety. “I had urged her agency to check any photograph which might be used and understand that they were told that the Academy had it covered.”
Janet was a great beauty and four-time Oscar nominee and it is very disappointing that the error was not picked up,” she continued, before adding: “I am alive and well and an active producer.”
The blunder caused outrage on X, known as Twitter at the time, and even gained the attention of Donald Trump Jr. He tweeted: “Interesting mistake, its almost like Hollywood doesn’t really care about the little people behind the scenes…”
It wasn’t the only mess up of the night though, as audiences may remember at the end of the show when La La Land was incorrectly announced as the winner for best picture instead of Moonlight.
Not the best year for the Academy Awards show!
The segment ‘riles up’ audiences
2023 was a tragic year for celebrity deaths, as we lost the likes of Matthew Perry and Tina Turner, who have since been honored at several award shows.
The Oscars Memoriam is a big one for fans, family, and friends, however, it’s said to be ‘torn apart’ the second after it’s over.
“The traditional American media experience: lift you up to tear you down,” Entertainment Weekly editor-in-chief Patrick Gomez told The Washington Post.
In the past, it’s said sportsbooks would take bets on which late celebrities would be left out of the segment.
The tradition has been going on since 1994, and despite the ‘blunders’ and ‘controversy’ of anyone who may be left out, it remains one of the most emotional, and tear-jerking segments of the show.