Tim Robbins' 2-Word Slip Gets Major Laughs On Oscars Stage

Tim Robbins helped present the award for Best Supporting Actor at the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday night, but not without making an amusing slip-up.

The actor delivered a speech dedicated to Oscar nominee Robert De Niro, when he accidentally referred to his role in “Killers of the Flower Moon” as an Oscar-winning performance… before the award had actually been announced.

“His latest performance in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ delivers a different type of evil, not of a mobster or psychotic loner, but of a business man consumed by greed and his lust for power,” he said about De Niro’s performance, before calling it “Oscar-winning.”

Robbins then corrected himself, saying De Niro’s work was instead Oscar-worthy, but he quickly quipped that the “Killers of the Flower Moon” actor’s performance “should be winning” nonetheless.

De Niro smiled at the mix-up, which elicited laughs from the audience.

But Robbins’ blunder wasn’t foreshadowing. Robert Downey Jr. took home the award for his role in “Oppenheimer.”

Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” had racked up 10 nominations for this year’s show.

Lily Gladstone, who portrayed Mollie Burkhart in the film about the real-life strategic murders of members of the Osage Nation, became the first Native American to be nominated for an acting Oscar.

Gladstone received a Best Actress nod. If she wins, she’ll become the first Native American to ever win a competitive Oscar.

Support HuffPost

Our 2024 Coverage Needs You

Your Loyalty Means The World To Us

At HuffPost, we believe that everyone needs high-quality journalism, but we understand that not everyone can afford to pay for expensive news subscriptions. That is why we are committed to providing deeply reported, carefully