Emma Stone Has Been Called Out After She Apparently Spent The Oscars Production Categories At The Bar With A-List Friends Instead Of Cheering On Her “Poor Things” Colleagues

Emma’s absence was noticed by viewers as Poor Things picked up three Oscars in a row, and it has now been reported that a whole load of A-listers headed to the bar for the ceremony’s production categories.

By
Stephanie Soteriou
by Stephanie Soteriou

BuzzFeed Staff

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In case you missed it, Poor Things was one of the big winners at last night’s Academy Awards, picking up four Oscars throughout the course of the night.

Emma Stone in strapless gown holding an Oscar statuette, smiling, with two Oscar silhouettes in background
Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic

In addition to Emma Stone’s Best Actress win, the Yorgos Lanthimos movie swept the production categories, with a consecutive winning streak for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Production Design, and Costume Design. 


But one person was notably absent during this section of the ceremony, with the production awards being given out relatively early on in the show amid other categories such as International Feature Film and Animated Short Film. 

As members of the Poor Things crew repeatedly took to the stage to accept their respective Oscars, those watching at home were left wondering why the movie’s star, Emma, wasn’t shown cheering on her colleagues.

Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier, and Josh Weston with the Academy Award for Best Hair & Makeup
Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic

And this came to a head when costume designer Holly Waddington mentioned Emma directly in her acceptance speech — and while director Yorgos and Emma’s costar Willem Dafoe were shown smiling in the audience, Emma was nowhere to be seen.

Holly Waddington in embellished outfit holding an Oscar on stage
Rich Polk / Variety via Getty Images

But the New York Times soon shed some light on the situation in their liveblog from the night, with reporter Nicole Sperling revealing that Emma — as well as many other A-list stars — were actually at the bar during the production awards.

Emma Stone wearing an off-the-shoulder dress with a statement necklace
Mike Coppola / Getty Images
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Nicole was reporting live from the Dolby Theater when she overheard both Emma and Florence Pugh at the venue’s lobby bar, with Emma said to be “visibly upset” that she wasn’t in the audience for the Poor Things wins.

Florence Pugh on the Oscars red carpet
Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic

For context, John Cena presented the award for Best Costume totally nude in a hilarious bit with host Jimmy Kimmel.

John Cena on stage at the Oscars naked
Kevin Winter / Getty Images

John awkwardly preserved his modesty with a piece of cardboard as he shuffled his way over to the microphone to read out the nominees.


But, according to Nicole, the vast majority of the ceremony’s attendees were actually at the bar for this segment, with Florence reportedly asking: “Who is he streaking for, everyone is out here?”

In her live blog post, Nicole wrote: “Emma Stone in the lobby bar with Florence Pugh when a naked John Cena crosses the Oscar stage. Pugh turns around dramatically and says, ‘Who is he streaking for, everyone is out here?’”

Summarized text: Emma Stone and Florence Pugh react as John Cena interrupts Oscars; Emma is upset she missed 'Poor Things' win
NY Times / Via nytimes.com

“Then when ‘Poor Things’ wins for best costumes, Emma groans loudly, ‘We are missing every one of these,’ visibly upset when they thank her specifically and she’s not in the auditorium to hear it,” the reporter concluded. 

And the revelation that A-list names headed to the bar when the arguably smaller awards were handed out bothered movie fans, with this lack of support for non-actors who are involved in a movie’s production deemed to be in poor taste.

NY Times / Via Twitter: @jamiebgolden

Sharing a screenshot of the NY Times post to X, formerly known as Twitter, one person wrote: “I know it's hard to sit and pay attention. Truly, I take medicine to try and pay attention. But maybe could ya? Especially for the awards your film is favorited to win…”

“I was wondering where Emma was,” somebody else admitted, while another simply tweeted: “Yikes.”

Interestingly, the moment that Emma realized that she had missed Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier, and Josh Weston's win for Best Makeup and Hairstyling was seemingly caught on camera and shared to X on Sunday night.

Twitter @itsshannonburns / Via Twitter: @itsshannonburns

In the clip, Emma can be seen pausing mid-conversation in the bar area before spotting what is happening onstage and exclaiming: “Oh my god, it’s Nadia and I’m not up there!"

She then frantically runs through the crowd in an apparent bid to show her support.

Nadia's award was the first of the three that Poor Things’ production team won, and it is not known why Emma was not back in her seat for the subsequent categories. 

Needless to say, Emma was seated when her own category rolled around towards the end of the night, and was visibly overwhelmed when she was announced Best Actress winner for her performance in Poor Things.

Emma Stone accepting her award for Best Actress at this year's oscars
Kevin Winter / Getty Images

Killers of the Flower Moon star Lily Gladstone was considered to be Emma’s fiercest competitor in this category, and Lily was shown graciously cheering Emma on amid her loss. 


This is Emma’s second Best Actress win in seven years, with the star’s first Academy Award being given in 2017 for her performance in La La Land.