Adrien Brody’s Oscars Speech Called ‘Worst Acceptance Speech’ in Academy Awards History by Expert — Here’s Why
The 97th annual Academy Awards brought prestige and drama as always. With several upsets and surprises, viewers hung in there as the Oscars ceremony stretched to three hours and 45 minutes. One of the least surprising moments involved Adrien Brody securing Best Actor in a Leading Role for The Brutalist. Despite his undeniable talent, the longtime actor put his ego on display as he gave a long, meandering speech that made viewers and audience members cringe.
Adrien Brody’s cringe-worthy Oscars acceptance speech for Best Actor
One of the most-anticipated moments of the Academy Awards saw Brody face off against Timothée Chalament, Colman Domingo, Ralph Fiennes, and Sebastian Stan for Best Actor. Brody’s win wasn’t surprising, but his flustered walk to the podium was. When the presenter, 2024 Best Actor winner Cillian Murphy, announced Brody’s win, The Pianist actor headed to the stage. Brody paused to pull chewed gum out of his mouth. He tossed it at his girlfriend, Harvey Weinstein’s ex-wife Georgina Chapman.
Brody, favored to win Best Actor entering the evening, thanked God and those who’ve supported him. He vaguely acknowledged the lull in his career, mentioning how “fragile” acting is and that it “can all go away.” Brody struggled to reach a point as the Academy began playing the wrap-up music. He quickly stated, “Please turn the music off. I’ve done this before — thank you. It’s not my first rodeo.” He proceeded to stumble over various thoughts, bringing up “the repercussions of war and systematic oppression and of antisemitism and racism and othering.”
After promising to be “brief,” Brody set the Guinness World Record for the longest acceptance speech in Oscars history, clocking it in at five minutes and 40 seconds. Adding insult to injury for many viewers, The Thin Red Line actor took up this time after several Oscar winners were ushered off the stage well before the 20- to 40-second mark, missing their moment altogether if they were part of a team.
Public speaking expert calls Adrien Brody’s speech ‘probably the worst acceptance speech at the Academy Awards ever’
A leading communication strategist and public speaking trainer weighed in on Adrien Brody’s speech post-Oscars. Richard Greene, an attorney from USC Law School, has spent decades assessing and improving speeches. Taking to TikTok via his handle @civicsdean, Greene called Brody’s Best Actor moment “probably the worst acceptance speech at the Academy Awards ever, ever, ever.”
The public speaking luminary dubbed it an “absolute lesson on what not to do if you have to give a speech.” Greene described Brody’s speech as “arrogant,” “disrespectful,” “boring as crap,” “not well written,” and “not well-delivered.” Ouch. His honest but brutal assessment did acknowledge that Brody is an “extraordinary actor.” But “you can be a great actor and not a great speaker,” he stated.
Greene echoed the sentiments of many viewers who took to social media post-broadcast. “Be respectful,” he stated. “If you’re given a time limit, stay as close as you can to it. Don’t say, ‘Oh, I’ve done this before. Let me just keep going on’ when a billion people around the world are being bored to tears. You’re disrespecting the people who invited you into their house.” He added that Brody needed to “get to the point” and “deliver value to the people that you’re talking to. He did none of that. I think he hurt his reputation. He hurt his brand.”
Whether Brody’s speech will have long-term consequences for his acting career remains to be seen. As viewers called it a night, the 51-year-old celebrated his win by attending the famously star-studded Vanity Fair Oscar Party with Chapman.
