Anne Heche, Tom Sizemore, Paul Sorvino and more were not included in ‘In Memoriam’ segment at Oscars

Amid the happiness for favorites like Brendan Fraser and Everything Everywhere All at Once getting their big wins at last night’s Academy Awards, one of the more somber moments, as always, came during the “In Memoriam” segment. As the segment started, John Travolta would tearfully pay tribute to his Grease co-star Olivia Newton-John with Lenny Kravitz playing Calling All Angels. With every year’s telecast, audiences would often react not only to the tributes but also to the notable absences of certain figures in film.

The Hollywood Reporter has the reactions to some of the bewildering snubs in this year’s segment. Social media platforms lit up with people noticing the absence of actress Charlbi Dean of the Oscar-nominated Triangle of Sadness, Tom Sizemore, Paul Sorvino, Leslie Jordan, and Anne Heche, despite the unfortunate details surrounding her death. Curiously, although those individuals were omitted from the television broadcast, but all their names are listed in the ‘In Memoriam’ section on the official Oscars website.

Those who noticed the omissions included actress Lydia Cornell of Too Close For Comfort. Cornell posted a picture of Sorvino with the caption, “Can anyone explain why this happens every year? Oscars In Memoriam Segment Missing Paul Sorvino, Anne Heche, Tom Sizemore, Leslie Jordan and Charlbi Dean From Oscar-Nominated Triangle Of Sadness.”

There was also some backlash aimed at the snubbing of actress Marsha Hunt, who was also a model and activist who became blacklisted by Hollywood executives in the 1950s during the McCarthyism era and had died back in September at the age of 104. A post from Twitter user Alan K. Rode read, “Marsha Hunt omitted by @TheAcademy Memoriam Segment even though she passed on the 75th anniversary of the Blacklist no less. Totally unacceptable.” A Brandeis American Studies professor named Thomas Doherty would reply, “Astonishing AMPAS overlooked the great actress and activist Marsha Hunt. Here she is (between June Havoc and Bogart) with the Committe for the First Amendment on the way to Washington DC to protest the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1947.”

The ‘In Memoriam’ part of the show is usually seen as a grand gesture of the film industry honoring those who deserved recognition for their contribution to the community, and when certain names are not included, audiences tend to debate on why the Academy felt the need to leave them out.