Anthony Hopkins' heartbreaking performance as a man battling dementia in The Father turned out to be the winning formula at the 2021 Academy Awards: He won Best Actor for his standout performance.
However, his victory did not come without some controversy.
The late Chadwick Boseman, who starred in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, was the frontrunner to collect a posthumous award for his stellar performance in the Netflix drama.
In addition, Boseman was heavily favored to win after the Oscars changed up their schedule, the first time in their 93-year history, with the Best Actor category closing out the night instead of the traditional Best Picture. That sparked rumors that the show would close with a massive tribute to the late actor, who died in August 2020 after silent battle with colon cancer.
But after Joaquin Phoenix announced Hopkins as the final winner of the night and the rumored send off never came to fruition, social media was ablaze with fury.
This, of course, caused La La Land to start trending on Twitter -- hearkening back to the infamous mix-up in which the 2017 movie was announced as Best Picture when, in actuality, Moonlight scored the win.
Chadwick previously swept nearly all the awards for which he was nominated, including the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Critics Choice Awards.