Elton John on disappointing Oscars: “It’s like a Starbucks”

Elton John has shared his thoughts on this year’s Oscars ceremony, saying it “looks like it’s coming from a Starbucks somewhere”.

The musician commented on the telecast during his annual viewing party, alongside his co-host Neil Patrick Harris.

“The Oscar ceremony looks like it’s coming from a Starbucks somewhere,” John said, before adding that his disappointment was pandemic-related.

Advertisement

“I wish we could be there. It’s more fun,” he went on. “This is the only way we could do it.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger also shared his disappointment, calling the telecast “so boring”.

“The reason I only watched one-third is because it was so boring,” Schwarzenegger said on Jimmy Kimmel Live earlier this week (April 27).

“I basically just turned it off. I couldn’t watch it anymore because there was so much talent there on the stage but it was so boring. How could they with all this talent make it so boring?”

Nielsen figures saw the TV ratings for this year’s Oscars telecast drop by 58 per cent, with 9.85million viewers in total tuning in.

Advertisement

Last year, the Academy Awards were watched by 23.6million viewers and earned a 5.3 rating, versus this year’s 1.9 rating.






However, those figures are in line with ratings for live TV viewership broadly, which has been steadily decreasing for some time.

The Golden Globes, SAG Awards, Grammys and Emmys all saw a substantial ratings decrease from 2020 to 2021.

See the full list of winners from the 93rd Academy Awards here.