Headlines from the last seven days
1 CULTURE
Will Smith overshadows Oscars with viral slap
Coda was named this year’s best picture at an Oscars ceremony overshadowed by an on-stage confrontation between the actors Will Smith and Chris Rock.
The Apple TV+ drama became the first film from a streaming service to win the award. It is a remake of La Famille Bélier, focusing on the only hearing member of a deaf family and was bought from Sundance in 2021 for $25m, a record for that festival.
Troy Kotsur won best supporting actor for his role in the film, making him the second deaf actor to bring home an Oscar, joining his co-star Marlee Matlin who won for Children of a Lesser God in 1987. The award for best director went to Jane Campion for The Power of the Dog.
Smith slapped Rock on stage after the comedian made a joke about the shaved head of Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who revealed last year that she has alopecia. Smith apologised to Rock the next day, saying he was “out of line”. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences condemned Smith’s action and said it would launch an inquiry.
Smith later won best actor for playing the father of Venus and Serena Williams in King Richard.
2 PERU
Machu Picchu ‘wrongly named’ for over a century
Machu Picchu has been known by the
