10 Biggest Oscar Goofs Of All Time

The coverage surrounding the last three years’ ceremonies has revolved around one key issue: diversity, specifically with regard to the Academy being overwhelmingly populated with white men who are less likely to give marginalised voices a look in.

Thanks to multiple wins and nominations for the likes of Moonlight and Lion, this issue appears to be shifting in a positive direction, but if the #OscarsSoWhite movement stands as proof of one thing, it’s just how far the industry has come.

Back in 1940, things weren’t so good.

As the first black woman to sing on the radio in the U.S, and the first black woman to win an Academy Award, Hattie McDaniel was a bonafide show business trailblazer. Unfortunately, after collecting said award for Gone With The Wind (Best Supporting Actress), she was forced to sit at a segregated table at the far end of the room, alongside her agent and away from the rest of the cast.

The Ambassador Hotel, where the awards were being held that night, had a strict ‘no blacks’ policy, but had allowed McDaniel to enter as a special favour to Gone With The Wind director David Selznick.

To call this one a 'goof' is to understate the injustice at play, but the segregation of Hattie McDaniel from her white co-stars is by far the most upsetting wrongdoing perpetrated at any Academy Awards, and therefore deserves commemorating and remembering as a reminder of how far the Academy, and society as a whole, has come since 1940.