LOS ANGELES (CA)
Newsweek
March 5, 2018
By Tufayel Ahmed
The 90th Academy Awards broke away from tradition in a major way Sunday night—and a lot of people noticed the absence of one particular actor.
It is customary for the previous year’s best actor and actress winners to present the opposite categories at the Oscars, but by all accounts Casey Affleck—who won best actor for Manchester by the Sea—wasn’t even in attendance at last night’s ceremony. Instead, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) paired up previous best actress winners Jennifer Lawrence and Jodie Foster to hand Frances McDormand her award. (Best actor was presented to Gary Oldman by Jane Fonda and Helen Mirren, rather than last year’s best actress Emma Stone, it’s worth noting.)
With the theme of Time’s Up permeating through Oscars season this year, Affleck’s absence stood out. When he was awarded the best actor prize in February last year, it was amid renewed focus on past accusations of sexual harassment. According to Variety, he withdrew to “avoid becoming a distraction.”
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