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They definitely didn’t have to do it, but the 2023 Oscars went all in a Cocaine Bear joke at the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday night.
Elizabeth Banks, who directed the recent B-horror box office hit Cocaine Bear, stepped out with a stumble onto the Oscar stage to present the award for Best Visual Effects. But she wasn’t alone: She was joined by a mysterious someone in a bear costume, which, she joked, is what the bear in Cocaine Bear would have looked like without visual effects. Banks, who sounded like she might be battling a cold, proceeded to joke with the bear about what was real vs. visual effects: The Navi are not real, but Tom Cruise flying around is real. At one point, Banks drags Sigourney Weaver into the bit, who seems just as perplexed by this cringe-worthy bit as the rest of us.
Later, the bear returned to harass activist Malala Yousafzai in her seat. Yousafzai handled the bit well enough, but still: Leave Malala alone!
But Twitter was preoccupied with the real mystery of the night—not who would take home Best Picture, but who the heck was under that bear suit. The guesses ranged from Matt Damon, Timothée Chalamet, Jessica Chastain, Matthew Rhys, Adam Driver, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, and George Clooney.
All of those guesses would have made for a better bit, but, unfortunately, Banks never revealed who was actually in the bear costume. That most likely means it was not, in fact, a celebrity in the bear costume, but rather some underpaid aspiring actor who took an unusual gig at the Academy Awards.
We still don’t know who was in the Cocaine Bear suit, but we do know that the official Cocaine Bear Twitter caught wind of the bit.
Perhaps the mystery of who was in the bear suit will be solved tomorrow. Personally, my money is on Doug Jones. That man is under every mask.