Jonathan Ross has received huge criticism after he referred to Oscar winner Cillian Murphy as a “British star” at the 2024 Academy Awards last weekend.
The ITV presenter who hosted the Oscars this year for the first time, mentioned Cillian Murphy while speaking about British actors who had been nominated for Academy Awards, referring to the Cork native as a “British star”.
This happened on a night when Murphy became the first Irish born star to win Best Actor, for his role in the Christopher Nolan directed Oppenheimer.
Oppenheimer won 7 awards on the night, including a Best Director award for Christopher Nolan, and a Best Supporting Actor triumph for Robert Downey Jr.
“some things never change”
As expected, Ross’ gaffe did not go unnoticed online, with many viewers expressing their annoyance over the coverage.
“Jonathan Ross on ITV claims Irish Oscar winner Cillian Murphy as being ‘British’. Some things never change!”, one user wrote on X.
Jonathan Ross just claimed Cillian Murphy as British. #oscars pic.twitter.com/1nNSRPA8yX
— Wesley Dolan. (@WesleyDolan) March 11, 2024
Another person commented, “Not Jonathan Ross saying British nominee for best actor referring to IRISH Cillian Murphy. Just know he’d be so fuming”.
“Did Jonathan Ross just say ‘Best Actor’ could go to a British actor?”, asked another.
Other comments include, “Took 3 mins for Jonathan Ross on ITV to claim Cillian’s win as ‘our’ win like he literally got on stage and pointed out he was Irish?”.
“Who has ever thought Cillian Murphy was British?? LMAO, Jonathan Ross is off his rocker”, wrote another disgruntled social media user.
Jonathan Ross was hit with further backlash over his comments regarding the late Mathew Perry, who was included in the In Memoriam segment of the Oscars, which pays tributes to stars who passed away last year.
“It was nice to see Matthew Perry included, even though he’s not primarily known for his work in cinema, they probably could have done it without him”, Ross said at the end of the segment.
“proud Irishman”
While accepting his award, Cillian Murphy referred himself as a “proud Irishman”, even throwing in some words from the Irish language for good measure.
“I’m a very proud Irishman standing here tonight,” Murphy declared.
“We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb, and for better or for worse, we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world, so I would really like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere”.
“Go raibh míle maith agaibh”.
