Did they forget him? Did they not? – Andy Vajna and the 2019 Oscars fiasco

The 91st Academy Awards took place just last weekend. As every year, notable figures of the film industry who passed away since the last Oscars gala were commemorated. However, there was someone missing from the list, and it caused outrage among Hungarians and Hollywood superstars alike.

Andy Vajna, who passed away this January, was certainly an important figure for the Hungarian film industry, but he was well-known and loved in Hollywood as well. Unfortunately, this was not reflected at the Oscar ceremony, as he was left out of the video commemorating the great figures we lost in the past year – reports NlCafe. The video shown paid tribute to Stan Lee, Margot Kidder, Burt Reynolds, Bernardo Bertolucci, Penny Marshall and Elizabeth Sung, among others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npp6Zbi8i6I&list=WL&index=2&t=0s

Her late husband’s absence from the video upset Tímea Vajna, who shared her pain on social media and claimed she had agreed on everything with the Academy about the inclusion of Vajna.

“It’s outrageous and sad that the Academy failed to include as great a person in the in memoriam as Andy Vajna was. We sent all the papers and talked to them on several occasions. But we won’t let this go.”

One possible explanation is that the video mostly showcases previous Oscar- nominees or -winners. Another contributing factor could be that the death of the Hungarian media mogul is quite recent.