20 Devastating Oscars Moments Hidden In Plain Sight
5. Sam Smith Incorrectly Claims To Be The First Openly Gay Oscar Winner
Sam Smith won the Best Original Song Oscar in 2016 for "Writing's on the Wall" - the title track for the James Bond film Spectre - and in his acceptance speech made mention of the fact that he was the first openly gay man to win an Oscar.
On paper it seemed like a welcome moment of representation, if not for the fact that Smith was far from the first openly gay Oscar winner, prompting writer Dustin Lance Black - an openly gay man who won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Milk in 2009 - to point this fact out.
But even Black himself wasn't the first - most prominently there's Midnight Cowboy director John Schlesinger, Elton John, and American Beauty writer Alan Ball, among several others.
Ultimately Smith misspoke, as he was quoting an article in which Sir Ian McKellen noted that there's never been an openly gay Best Actor Oscar winner.
But Smith's gaffe sparked a wider discussion about the sad reality of LGBTQ success at the Oscars being generally downplayed over the years.