Conan O’Brien watered briefly into political waters at Oscars with an “Anora” joke directed at President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
With just a few more statues left to publish Sunday evening, the host for the 97th Academy Awards took a moment to find out the night’s winners so far. He designated “Anora”, which at that time had already taken home the best editing of the night and best original script awards.
“‘Anora’ has a good night. Yes, that’s good news. Two wins already,” said O’Brien. “I guess Americans are happy to see someone finally resist a powerful Russian.”
You can look at the clip below:
During #OscarsConan O’Brien jokes about #Aorasays: “I guess Americans are happy to see someone finally resist a powerful Russian.” pic.twitter.com/gxwx9vfoqn
– Thewrap (@thewrap) March 3, 2025
The joke pulled audible gas from the audience presence at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, as well as a wave of applause. Of course, this is a reference to not only “Anora”, which follows its eponymous sex workers (best actress winner Mikey Mikeson) when she is caught in a demoral struggle with her icy Russian in -law, but also to President Trump’s handling of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
On Friday Drew and Vance Drew Widespread criticism for their argumentation Meeting with Ukrainian President Volodyyr ZelenskyWhich ended with Zelesky’s white house visit suddenly being cut briefly. In the middle of the conflict, Zelensky’s insistence was that there can be no peace between Ukraine and Russia without security guarantees from Putin that he will cease his invasion and not try to enter any other Eastern European nations or regions.
Vance and Trump, for their parts, accused Zelensky of not showing enough gratitude or respect for the United States for the support it has provided Ukraine.
The tumultuous meeting came the same week that Trump had similarly examined but much less controversial white house meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. An official date has not yet been set for a formal meeting between Trump and Putin, but the former has almost nothing but good things to say about the latter in recent weeks.
The chances of Trump taking the same hardball method with Putin as he did with Zelesky, when O’Brien was indirectly joking Sunday, a disappointment narrow.
You can watch the moment in the video above.
