The In Memoriam segment is usually the most delicate part of the Oscars — a few quiet minutes to sit with the people the industry has lost. This year, though, the 98th Academy Awards tribute has left many fans feeling like some of those lives weren’t fully acknowledged, after several notable names were missing from the broadcast.
Social posts described the omissions as “a missed opportunity” and “a disgrace”, as people shared their own memories of the actors who meant a lot to them on screen.
Eric Dane, who died on 19 February at 53 after living with ALS, was one of the actors missing from the tribute. Dane was best known for Grey’s Anatomy and Euphoria but also appeared in films including Marley & Me 2, Valentine’s Day and Burlesque.
James Van Der Beek, who died earlier this year following stage three colorectal cancer, starred in Dawson’s Creek and Don’t Trust the B— in Apartment 23, as well as 1999 film Varsity Blues, was only recognised on the Academy’s extended In Memoriam list online, not during the telecast itself.
Fans of European cinema were just as confused to see Brigitte Bardot missing from the on‑air tribute. The French screen icon, who died in December 2025 after a battle with cancer, appeared in more than 40 films and became a defining “femme fatale” of 20th‑century French cinema.
Some fans pointed to Bardot’s controversial past including racial, islamophobic and homophobic accusations.
Also absent from the montage were Malcolm‑Jamal Warner, whose work ranged from The Cosby Show to films like Drop Zone and Tyson, as well as Robert Carradine, remembered for the Revenge of the Nerds franchise, Django Unchained and The Lizzie McGuire Movie before his death in February 2026.
Oscars executive Rob Mills has responded to the backlash by stressing that the final list is not decided by the telecast team. The Walt Disney Television executive vice president told Variety that it’s “the Academy’s call on who ends up on the telecast”, and said the job of selecting names is “the hardest thing they possibly do”.
“It always is hard when they are sort of villainised for this,” he added, noting that the industry is losing “more and more people” every year, including many “legendary people”, and describing this year’s presentation as “probably the hardest needle to thread”. Mills still defended the final result, saying he believes “what they did last night might have been the best In Memoriam in the history of the Oscars”.
Shonda Rhimes has also weighed in on Dane’s absence, and her focus has been more on honouring him than on criticising the show. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, the Grey’s Anatomy creator said, “Well, he’s not a movie star, you know? And I feel like when the Emmys come around, he will be [immortalised] the way he should be.”
She continued, “We can’t fault the Oscars for the fact that they’re looking at movies. And there were so many people who were lost, but Eric was unique to television and I can’t wait to see what they do with him [at the Emmys].”
Rhimes also spoke about her own grief, saying, “Eric is an — was an — incredible human being, and I still say ‘is’ because it’s very hard for me to believe he’s gone,” calling him “a huge loss” for Shondaland, Grey’s Anatomy and “the people that he knew”.
“He was just a wonderful, wonderful, giving guy [and] I don’t know that everybody understands how amazing he was,” she added.
While the telecast did highlight losses like Catherine O’Hara, Robert Duvall and Diane Ladd, and made space for special tributes to Rob Reiner, Diane Keaton and Robert Redford, the conversation now is as much about who wasn’t seen on that stage as who was. For many fans, those missing few seconds of recognition matter — especially when those faces helped shape the stories they grew up with.
Lead image: Getty
