While most winners and presenters at the 2026 Academy Awards kept their speeches apolitical, there were a few who used their opportunity with the microphone to call out politicians, gun violence and wars happening around the globe.
Before revealing that Sentimental Value won the Oscar for best international feature film, Javier Bardem — who was also wearing a 2003 Iraq War protest pin — began with, “No to war and free Palestine.”
After, once the filmmaker for the Stellan Skarsgård-led film took the stage, he also concluded his acceptance speech slamming politicians. “I want to end by paraphrasing the wonderful American writer James Baldwin, who makes us…