The telecast cut off the “Two People Exchanging Saliva” honorees midway through their acceptance of Best Live-Action Short — which resulted in a tie.

Oscars host Conan O’Brien calls out show for cutting off winner’s speech, retracting microphone

The telecast cut off the "Two People Exchanging Saliva" honorees midway through their acceptance of Best Live-Action Short — which resulted in a tie.

Joey Nolfi

Joey Nolfi is a senior writer at *. *Since 2016, his work at EW includes RuPaul’s Drag Race video interviews, Oscars predictions, and more.

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March 15, 2026 9:07 p.m. ET

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Alexandre Singh; Conan O'Brien hosting the Oscars. Credit:

Frank Micelotta/Disney via Getty (2)

Oscars host Conan O'Brien's words stood tall on behalf of short film artists on the Academy Awards stage.

Moments after presenter Kumail Nanjiani announced that voting for the Best Live Action Short category resulted in a rare tie, the filmmakers behind *Two People Exchanging Saliva *made their way to the stage to accept their trophies (which they shared with the crew of *The Singers*).

Director Natalie Musteata initially gave an emotionally charged speech that also honored the short's producers, actresses Isabelle Huppert and Julianne Moore, before the film's other director, Alexandre Singh, made his way to the microphone to speak. Though, the lights on the stage dimmed and his audio cut out just as Singh said, "And thank you..."

Natalie Musteata and Alexandre Singh win at the Oscars.

Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty

The camera then cut to O'Brien, who watched with a nervous smile as the audience in the Dolby Theatre nervously laughed at the show attempting to cut Singh off.

When the mic came back on, Singh continued, and eventually ended his speech by taking a shot at a recent controversy that saw Best Actor nominee Timothée Chalamet dismiss performing arts like ballet and opera.

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"We believe that art can change people's souls," Singh said. "We can change society through art, through creativity, through theater and ballet and also cinema."

When the team left the stage, O'Brien called out the telecast's production crew for cutting Singh off.

"I just want to say congratulations to both winners. You just ruined 22 million Oscar pools. I know we're tight, but to retract a microphone on a man as he's speaking is hilarious. Next up!" O'Brien said.

O'Brien's joke drew applause from the audience, before he segued the show into the next portion.

Conan O'Brien hosts the 2026 Oscars.

Disney/Frank Micelotta

Earlier in the broadcast, O'Brien also took a jab at Chalamet's controversy. His monologue began with a joke about increased protection measures at the venue, which quickly turned into a quip about Chalamet.

"Security is extremely tight tonight. Just gotta mention that," O'Brien said at the top of the show, initially appearing to reference reports that safety measures were increased due to the FBI warning of a potential "surprise attack" from Iran. However, O'Brien finished by joking, "I'm told there's concerns about attacks from both the opera and ballet communities."

The camera then cut to Chalamet and his partner Kylie Jenner in the audience, as both laughed. The comedian made one more remark before moving on, looking out toward Chalamet as he joked, "They're just mad you left out jazz!"

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Source: “EW Academy”