Oscars viewing figures hit an all time low with 9.85million viewers

The number of people who tuned in to watch the three-hour long ‘wokefest’ that was the Oscars has hit an all time low with just 9.85 million viewers. 

The television ratings for the 93rd Academy Awards on Sunday night is a 58 percent drop compared to last year’s already record-low 23.64 million viewers, according to early Nielsen numbers. 

The huge drop in ratings for Hollywood’s biggest night continues an overall multi-year downward trend for the Academy Awards, which were above 43 million as recently as 2014. 

It comes after the Grammys, Golden Globes and SAG Awards all experienced more than 50 percent declines in viewership this year as well.  

Film fans had already blasted this year’s ceremony as the ‘wokest ever’ after a string of virtue-signaling speeches by stars before Anthony Hopkins was attacked for winning the best actor award above Chadwick Boseman.   

Award host Regina King had kicked off the night by hailing the conviction of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, director Travon Free showed off a jacket emblazoned with the named of black people killed by police and Mia Neal then spoke about ‘breaking the glass ceiling’ for trans and minority ethnic people in her acceptance speech for best hair and makeup.  

With movie theaters shut for most of the year amid the COVID-19 pandemic and several blockbuster films starring big-name actors postponed, a less familiar crop of nominees were competing.

Chloe Zhao’s ‘Nomadland’ was the big winner with the director becoming the second woman and first woman of color to take home the best picture prize.

The Oscars broadcast, which aired on ABC, had a small in-person attendance amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

This year’s ceremony was moved from a Hollywood theater to a glammed-up Los Angeles train station to abide by strict pandemic protocols.  

After years of criticism over racial diversity, Zhao became the first Asian woman and only the second woman ever to win best director for Nomadland, British actor Daniel Kaluuya won best supporting actor for Judas and the Black Messiah and 73-year-old South Korean Youn Yuh-jung won best supporting actress for Minari.  

Many then assumed the night would end with a posthumous award for Chadwick Boseman given the organizers decided to make it the last category even though it typically ends with best picture. 

Anthony Hopkins, however, unexpectedly won the best actor category.

Despite breaking the the record for oldest best actor winner at 83 for his portrayal of a man with dementia in The Father, it prompted fury among viewers who declared he had ‘stolen’ it.

‘Chadwick Boseman was robbed,’ one furious viewer tweeted, before another added: ‘The Oscars have proven once again that they have no idea what they’re doing.’ 

Hopkins’ lack of an acceptance speech at the show’s grand finale was also criticized by many viewers as anti-climactic.

‘At 83 years of age, I did not expect to get this award, I really didn’t,’ Hopkins said in video posted to his Instagram page from Wales on Monday morning.

‘I want to pay tribute to Chadwick Boseman who was taken from us far too early,’ he added, referring to the late ‘Black Panther’ star who had been expected to win best actor for his final role in ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.’