While critics may have lambasted the 2014 Oscars for being a lacklustre event, one moment generated record-breaking interest.
In what has been billed the world’s most glamorous ‘selfie’, Oscar’s host Ellen DeGeneres grabbed a picture that sent Twitter into turmoil. The image generated record-breaking retweets and managed to crash the site in moments.
779,295 retweets were registered within minutes. The climbing total has now surpassed two and a half million. A remarkable A-list cast squeezed into the improvised shot: Bradley Cooper, Brad Pitt, Meryl Streep, Angelina Jolie, Jared Leto, Kevin Spacey, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o jumped in for the camera-phone snap.
Spare a thought for poor Liza Minnelli, the pint sized star strained to join the line-up but her head missed the cut. It wasn’t the only embarrassing moment for Madam Minnelli, Ellen sent the assembled Oscars audience into raptures when she mocked the actress during the opening monologue. The host described the star as looking like a ‘male impersonator’ of herself. Ouch.
The record-breaking ‘selfie’ is very good news for Oscars sponsor Samsung. The phone manufacturer are big sponsors of the event and featured heavily throughout the show. They will certainly feel they got their money’s worth, the celebrated picture was taken on their Galaxy phone.
However, the photo is bad news for President Obama. The Oscars snap broke the world record Obama set for retweets in 2012. The image of the newly-elected leader hugging his wife after the election with the tagline ‘four more years’ was the previous record holder.
More than a billion viewers from around the world tuned into last night’s ceremony. FilmOn.com viewers viewed the event in record numbers.