Academy Awards host Neil Patrick Harris gave former Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer a dumb job and had two white dudes oversee her doing it—and people on Twitter are not happy about it.
Harris asked Spencer to be in charge of watching his own Oscar predictions, which were sealed in a briefcase in a clear locked box. He then asked Robert Duvall and Eddie Redmayne, to make sure she got it right.
The bit was supposed to be a joke, but many on Twitter found it humorless, tone-deaf and even racist, considering how few people of color are nominated at this year’s Oscars.
Read next: Here’s What Twitter Talked About Most During the Oscars
Get The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now.
Listen to the most important stories of the day.
More Must-Reads From TIME
- What a Photographer Saw in the West Bank
- Accenture’s Chief AI Officer on Why This Is a Defining Moment
- Inside COP28's Big 'Experiment'
- U.S. Doctors Can't Be Silent About Gaza: Column
- The Movie Wives Would Like a Word
- The 100 Must-Read Books of 2023
- The Top 100 Photos of 2023
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
