"Conan O'Brien Exposes Bizarre Academy Rules for Oscars Statues in Promos"

In a surprising revelation from recent Oscars host Conan O'Brien, it turns out the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has some strict rules about how their iconic Oscar statue can be portrayed. During an episode of the podcast Conan Needs a Friend with his Oscars head writer Mike Sweeney, O'Brien shared that his creative promotional ideas for the ceremony were shot down by the Academy.

Keep that Oscar upstanding. Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP.

O'Brien had envisioned a series of ads where he and a 9-foot tall Oscar statue would be depicted as a domestic couple, engaging in everyday squabbles. One particularly amusing concept involved the Oscar lounging on a large couch, with O'Brien vacuuming around it, jokingly asking the statue to lift its feet or help with household chores like loading the dishwasher. However, the Academy firmly rejected the idea of laying the Oscar horizontally.

"We're fighting about things couples fight about," O'Brien explained. "At one point, I thought, wouldn't it be great if it's just on the couch? Let's lay it on a really big couch and I'll be vacuuming and say, 'Could you at least lift your feet? Or could you at least get up and help? Load the dishwasher?' We wanted to do it and they just said, 'No, no no, that can't happen.'"

The Academy's reasoning left O'Brien flabbergasted. "One of the people from the Academy came forward and said, 'Oscar can never be horizontal.' And that blew my mind," he recounted. "Like, wow, this is like the thigh bone of St. Peter. This is a religious icon." Additionally, the Academy insisted that the statue should always be "naked," nixing another of O'Brien's ideas where the Oscar would be dressed in an apron, serving leftovers.

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45 ImagesWhile the Academy's decisions might seem overly restrictive, they are within their rights to maintain the statue's dignity and traditional representation. It's a shame we missed out on seeing O'Brien's comedic genius fully displayed in these promos. Here's hoping he returns as host in 2026 with even more clever ideas up his sleeve. We're definitely Team Conan for the Oscars!