Oscars scandal: Hollywood stars accused of hypocrisy over mountains of trash after the ceremony

A new Oscars scandal has emerged: Hollywood stars have been accused of hypocrisy after a photo of mountains of trash in the Dolby Theatre following the 98th Academy Awards ceremony went viral. The photo has become a meme, and the awards organizers have responded to the criticism.

A photo from the theater auditorium immediately after the guests left was posted on social media by journalist Matt Neglia of Next Best Picture. The image shows rows of seats littered with empty plastic bottles, popcorn boxes, cups, and food wrappers—it's known that small snack boxes were traditionally handed out to attendees during the show.

"Clean up the aisles," Neglia captioned the photo, which has already garnered nearly 7 million views.

Social media users criticized Hollywood stars for "environmental hypocrisy." Many noted that celebrities often give speeches on stage about protecting the planet and the climate crisis (like Leonardo DiCaprio, who was in the audience), yet fail to take their own trash to the trash bin. Some also noted the disrespect shown by the wealthy elite, who leave behind the mess, for those who earn minimum wage cleaning.

"Save the mountains, keep them clean, blah blah blah... But look at the mess they leave behind. No one believes it anymore," "Seriously? People couldn't take out their trash? And these are A-list celebrities," "The elite make the mess, and the lower classes clean up after them, it's always been that way, and I don't think that will change," "A classic example of how money can't buy good manners," "Of course, we can't expect impeccably dressed celebrities to clean up after themselves," the caption reads.

People also began to mock the situation. One user, for example, played on the title of the awards' main winner, the film "Battle After Battle" starring DiCaprio.

The American Film Academy, which hosts the ceremony, commented on the scandal, claiming the situation was taken out of context and was a "misunderstanding." "Guests were asked to leave their trash in the auditorium," a source told the California Post. A source at the Academy told The Post that this is standard practice, as the cleaning process is planned in advance.

Defenders of the Hollywood stars online also noted that the photo shows the balcony where ordinary members of the Film Academy, representatives of the press, sponsors, and relatives of the participants are seated, while the main stars are sitting in the stalls.

"But who cares about these excuses? Hollywood's environmental awareness, it turns out, ends exactly where the cardboard snack box begins and the cameras turn off," journalist Yunia Pugacheva responded to the scandal on her Telegram channel.

The 98th Academy Awards ceremony took place on the night of March 16th in Hollywood. A-list stars showed off their best looks on the red carpet, and a highlight was the appearance of the leading contenders for Best Actor, Timothée Chalamet and DiCaprio, with their girlfriends (though ultimately, neither walked away with a statuette). Spletnik has compiled the ceremony's highlights.

Фото: NextBestPicture/XRichard Harbaugh / The Academy via Getty ImagesKevin Winter/Getty Images