Oscars host Wanda Sykes cracked a joke at the expense of disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein during this year’s Oscars telecast.
During a pre-recorded segment in which Sykes toured the recently-opened Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, she came face to face with a mask of one of the orcs who appeared in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movies.
“Oh, Harvey Weinstein!” joked Sykes.
Last year, Weinstein pleaded not guilty to four counts of rape and seven other sexual assault counts. The charges involve alleged attacks on five women between 2004 and 2013.
Weinstein was convicted in 2020 of third-degree rape and of a criminal sexual act in New York. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison, which he was serving at the Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo before his extradition.
Weinstein has appealed the conviction. He has maintained his innocence and denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.
Sykes is the co-host of this year’s ceremony along with Regina Hall and Amy Schumer. Earlier in the night Schumer drew gasps from the crowd with a joke she made about Leonardo DiCaprio and his “girlfriends”.
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