Oscars Viewers Think Stage Looked Like President Donald Trump's Hair

Production designer David Korins may have seen “inclusion and humanity” when he looked at the [...]

By Allison Schonter

Production designer David Korins may have seen "inclusion and humanity" when he looked at the Oscars stage, but social media users only saw one thing: President Donald Trump's hair.

As the 91st Annual Academy Awards kicked off at 8 p.m. on Sunday night, those tuning into the awards show from home to watch the event, broadcast live from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, began to flood social media with odd takes on the venue and the possible inspiration behind the scenery.

Created by Korins, the Tony-nominated Broadway production designer of Hamilton, the stage featured a flowing design that boasted "shimmering, swirling symphony of sparkling blues and gold dotted with 1,250 Swarovski crystal strands painstakingly hung above the Dolby stage, weighing 1,600 pounds," which many believed closely resembled the President's iconic hair.

"Wait, is the Oscar stage designed to look like Trump's hair?" Twitter user Ben Popper questioned, setting off a round of resounding yes and memes.

"Can't wait to spend the next 3 hours watching celebs standing under Trump's hair," another person wrote.

"Trump called...he's mad that no one asked for his permission to use the likeness of his hair for the oscars stage..." one viewer quipped.

"Bold move for the #Oscars to model their stage on Trump's hair this year," another wrote, sharing a photoshopped photo of the President's hair placed over the stage.

Some viewers even noted that the the Oscar statues in the background, which were made of red roses, eerily resembled First Lady Melania Trump's controversial White House Christmas decorations, which many had claimed looked like something straight out of The Handmaid's Tale dystopian society Gilead.

"Did they recycle Melania's Bloody Christmas Trees into the Oscar Statues on stage?" one person questioned.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times just ahead of the awards ceremony, Korins had opened up about the design and its comparison the Trump's hair.

"I don't see that, but I think that people see in artistic endeavors all sorts of things," he said. "You look at paintings and sculpture and architecture and people see what they want to see. And I choose to see one of inclusion and humanity, femininity and beauty."

The stage design wasn't totally without political inspiration however, Korins later revealing on Twitter that the design was inspired by today's divided America, a world that is "filled with TOO MANY straight lines & square thinking… I have designed a world based on the idea of inclusion & warm welcoming shapes that stretch out & envelope not only the audience but everyone watching."

Photo credit: Getty Images

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