Oscars 2026 sees uncommon second that has occurred solely 7 instances in 100 years, Kumail Nanjiani tells viewers: ‘Settle down’
Within the 98 years that the Academy Awards have been given out, over 2000 awards have been accepted and offered. Simply how uncommon a tie is will be gauged by the truth that solely six of those had been ties. That was earlier than this yr’s version. When presenter Kumail Nanjiani mentioned, “It’s a tie,” many within the viewers had been left confused. No one knew if that was even attainable. But it surely did. The Finest Dwell-Motion Quick Movie class noticed two winners, the primary incident of a tie since 2012 and solely the seventh because the awards started nearly a century in the past.
Kumail Nanjiani presents the award for finest dwell motion quick movie throughout the Oscars on Sunday, March 15, 2026, on the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Picture/Chris Pizzello) (Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
Oscars 2026 sees uncommon tie
The Finest Dwell-Motion Quick Movie class isn’t one that’s anticipated to dominate headlines on the Academy Awards, however this yr, will probably be the one talked about essentially the most (offered the remainder of the evening doesn’t spring too many surprises). Presenter Kumail Nanjiani introduced there was a tie. “It is a tie! I am not joking! It is truly a tie, so everybody settle down,” he mentioned. “Hold on, we’re gonna get by this,” the actor added, earlier than explaining that he’ll announce one winner first, and they’ll come as much as get their award, adopted by the second winner.
The Singers and Two Individuals Exchanging Saliva shared the win, and even the recipients had been befuddled, with each recipients mentioning they didn’t know Oscars had ties.
The rarity of tied awards on the Academy Awards
Earlier than this, there had been solely six cases of awards on the Oscars being tied, going all the best way again to 1932, when Wallace Beery (The Champ) and Fredric March (Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde) tiedfor Finest Actor. The presentation itself was a farce, with March introduced because the solo winner earlier than the error was corrected.
In 1950, A Probability to Dwell and So A lot for So Little tied within the Finest Documentary Quick Topic class. In 1987, Artie Shaw: Time is All You have Bought and Down and Out in America had been joint winners within the Finest Documentary Function. The Finest Quick Movie Dwell Motion (because the class was then known as) had a earlier tie in 1995, with Franz Kafka’s It is a Fantastic Life and Trevor each introduced winners. In 2013, Skyfall and Zero Darkish Thirty famously received Finest Sound Enhancing.
However essentially the most high-profile prevalence of a tied award was in 1969 when Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand tied for Finest Actress. The good Katherine Hepburn received for The Lion in Winter, and Streisand for her iconic flip as Fanny Brice in Humorous Woman.
