Talking about how disappointed one was by the Oscar ceremony, year after year, might be like beating a dead horse. We should make our peace with the fact that irrespective of our level of interest, the Oscars are something we can’t look away from–whether we have favourites among the contenders, if we’re curious about the latest couture on display, or if we’re simply looking forward to celebrities making compelling speeches on the day. The 98th Academy Awards, held in the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, was more of the same. And yet, as anyone watching it over the years will tell you, most evenings also tend to throw up their fair share of surprises.Host Conan O’Brien started off by introducing himself as the last ‘human host’ for the event. “Next year, it will be a WayMo in a tux,” referring to the California-based driverless cab service. He then reminded the audience that around the last time he was hosting the Oscars, the city of Los Angeles was battling a forest fire. “This year, everything is going great” – O’Brien said with a wide, ironic smile – making the audience audibly gasp at the statement, which later turned into resigned laughter. Political jokes and speeches have been commonplace at the Oscars — with the awards night often being used as a sanctum by artists to make themselves heard. Who can forget the great Marlon Brando refusing to turn up for his Best Actor award (for The Godfather), instead sending activist Sacheen Littlefeather on his behalf, as a mark of protest against the portrayal of native Americans in Hollywood. It’s also in this very ceremony last year that a Palestinian–Israeli film, No Other Land, won the Best Documentary Feature, and where director Basel Adra said it as plainly and directly as possible – “Stop the ethnic cleansing.” It was seen as the Academy standing up to America’s political establishment — which stood around saying nothing as the Israeli assault in Gaza scaled up to alarming levels.However, this year, even the viewers were able to smell some of the fear. The muted giggles to the few political jokes, and the insincere cheering to the only pro-Palestine slogan delivered by presenter Javier Bardem seems to suggest – Hollywood is a bit unsure about its activism. The indications have been around since last year’s awards season, when Sebastian Stan – who starred in The Apprentice (2024) playing Donald Trump – reportedly couldn’t find a single actor to partner up with him on Variety’s Actors on Actors interview. In one of the boldest swipes at the 2026 Oscars, O’Brien said for the first time since 2012 there were no British actors nominated in any acting categories. He went on to add, “A British spokesperson said, at least we arrest our pedophiles” – drawing some scattered applause from the audience. The closest O’Brien came to tackling President Donald Trump directly was when he said “We’re coming to you live from ‘Has a Small Penis’ theatre.” The joke got only a few laughs, but it was only later decoded that O’Brien was probably referring to the US president forcing his name on the John F Kennedy Centre for Performing Arts – which will soon be called the Trump-Kennedy Centre for Performing Arts. Former host Jimmy Kimmel, who was presenting the award for Best Documentary Feature, didn’t spare the president either. “As you know, there are some countries whose leaders don’t support free speech. I’m not at liberty to say which. Let’s just leave it at North Korea and CBS,” Kimmel said, as the audience burst out into applause, the most unanimous one a political joke got in the evening. Before announcing the nominees, he couldn’t help but resist – “… and there are also the kind of documentaries, where one walks around in The White House and tries on shoes” referring to Brett Ratner’s critically-trashed documentary, Melania. India had its own connection to the cautious, anti-establishment speeches made at the Oscars. Actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who accompanied Bardem, to present the Best International Feature, wore an enigmatic smile as her co-presenter chanted, “No to war, and free Palestine.” The applause on Bardem’s statement sounded like an automatic reflex, rather than a mindful response. But what was most interesting was Chopra-Jonas’ distance from her co-presenter’s statement. The actor has previously toed the line with Indian political forces, tweeting in support of India’s airstrikes in Pakistan in 2019. Chopra-Jonas’s next film, Benaras, directed by SS Rajamouli, has an uncomfortably saffron palette. Or at least that’s what the teaser suggests. Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, who won two Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director – refused to indulge the political subtext of his film, One Battle After Another. “I thought we were going to party,” he joked, after being asked about the parallels between his film and the real-world today and how he saw things progressing. He then went on to state a rather safe answer about how he had belief in the next generation, and he hoped that “common sense and decency would come back in fashion.”Contrast this with the likes of Robert De Niro coming on stage at the Tony Awards in 2018, and saying “I’m going to say one thing – fu*k Trump!” – one might be able to see how mainstream Hollywood appears to have toed the line with the president’s second term. Even if they might not directly approve of him – one can sense Hollywood, once a temple for America’s liberal values, is deliberately less open about its socio-political convictions. It seems like the chilling effect has finally permeated the star-filled Dolby theatre. The tremors will be felt soon enough.