Robert Downey Jr. Slammed for Snubbing Ke Huy Yuan While Accepting Oscar Win
Oscar viewers have criticized Downey for being "rude" to Quan when accepting his award.
Robert Downey Jr. seemingly snubbed Ke Huy Quan while accepting his Oscar win, and the 2024 Best Support Actor is getting slammed over it. On Sunday night, five past winners in the category — Quan, Sam Rockwell, Tim Robbins, Christoph Waltz, and Mahershala Ali — all presented the award for Best Supporting Actor. Downey won for his role as Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer, beating out Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction), Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon), Ryan Gosling (Barbie), and Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things).
After Quan announced Downey as the winner, the actor took the stage with his predecessors, including Quan, who won in 2023 for his role in Everything Everywhere All at Once. As he approached, Downey took the Academy Award from Quan, never making eye contact. He then greeted both Robbins and Rockwell, but just as Quan went to give him the envelope with his name inside, Downey turned and headed toward the microphone, where he thanked "Sam" and the "fellas" for their presentation.
TV Line noted that many Oscar viewers picked up on the perceived snub, and took to social media to call him out. "Robert Downey Jr. could have been a little more responsive to Ke Huy Quan when accepting his first Oscar," one person wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
The way he took the Oscar from Ke Huy Quan without acknowledging him at all showed a real lack of class.
— Michael (@Michael95070847) March 11, 2024
"Robert Downey Jr. completely ignored Oscar-winner, Ke Huy Quan, who presented him with his Oscar," someone else shared, while a third person criticized him for "doing a Taylor Swift" snub," referencing a controversial moment between the "Anti-Hero" singer and Celine Dion at the Grammys.
While Downey's actions could be seen as dismissive, he later took photos with Quan and the other presenters backstage, and there are photos — shared by TooFab — of Downey and Quan shaking hands and smiling together, so this may just be a big misunderstanding.