Why were stars omitted from the Oscars In Memoriam?

Televised tribute left some families and fans upset

During Sunday night’s ceremony, the Academy ran a condensed tribute to artists who died in the past year that moved many in the auditorium — but several well-known names were absent from the broadcast. Viewers and relatives noticed omissions that included James Van Der Beek, Brigitte Bardot and Eric Dane, among others. The Academy later posted an extended online tribute that included Van Der Beek, which confirmed he was on the official list even though his name did not air on television.

Producers of the live telecast operate under tight time constraints and editorial choices: the broadcast must fit many segments, and organizers often pare down longer memorial packages for pacing. That has become a recurring flashpoint because the televised version reaches a far larger audience and feels like the definitive public farewell.

Key facts:

• Several high-profile figures were not named during the on-air memorial.
• The Academy’s longer online tribute included some names missing from the broadcast.
• Viewers and families voiced anger and disappointment on social platforms after the show.

Why it matters

The televised farewell at the annual ceremony carries symbolic weight — for colleagues, friends and global audiences it is the moment a career is acknowledged in front of the industry. Omissions spark immediate backlash because they can feel like erasure at a moment of mourning, and they raise questions about how decisions are made and communicated. The Academy’s dual approach — a shorter on-air segment plus a fuller online roll call — aims to balance ceremony runtime with comprehensiveness, but this year’s gaps underlined how fraught that compromise can be for families and fans.