Music

Before she even turned 18, Malala Yousafzai had become one of the leading advocates for women’s education in Pakistan; she survived a Taliban murder attempt; and won a Nobel Peace Prize. She’s one of the most heroic, inspirational and impactful humans on the planet.

So, of course, at the 2023 Oscars, host Jimmy Kimmel had to force her to weigh in on one of last year’s stupidest nontroversies: Did Harry Styles spit on Chris Pine during the Venice Film Festival premiere of Don’t Worry, Darling?

“As the youngest Nobel Prize winner in history, do you think Harry Styles spit on Chris Pine?” Kimmel asked Yousafzai with a completely straight face. Without missing a beat, she simply replied, “I only talk about peace.”

“That’s why you’re Malala,” Kimmel said. “That’s a great answer.”

Yousafzai is an executive producer on the short movie Stranger at the Gate, which was nominated in the best documentary short subject category at the 2023 Oscars, ultimately losing to The Elephant Whisperers.

#SpitGate became a favorite Internet debate topic last fall after a video surfaced that appeared to show the “As It Was” singer and Billboard Hot 100 topper leaning over Pine and spitting on him. A rep for Pine soon explained it was merely an “odd online illusion” in the clip.

Just a few weeks ago, Pine explained in greater detail what happened. “He leaned down, and I think he said, ‘It’s just words, isn’t it?’” Pine shared. “‘Cause we had this little joke. We’re all jet-lagged, we’re all trying to answer these questions. Sometimes when you’re doing these press things, your brain gets befuddled and you start speaking gibberish. And we had a joke: ‘It’s just words, man.’”

As Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel made clear during his 2023 Oscars opening monologue, Rihanna was in the building (as was her nine-month-old son, who Kimmel also said had pooped backstage during rehearsals).

Thanks to the stunning ballad “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the superstar scored her first Oscar nomination alongside Tems, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Göransson. For the song’s live debut, Rihanna — whom actress Danai Gurira introduced as “royalty in her own right” — delivered a soaring performance.

Surrounded by a full band, string section and backup vocalists “Lift Me Up” came to life as Rih sang with palpable passion to honor the late Chadwick Boseman. Standing on a center platform draped in diamonds, when she declared “Lift me up… I need love” the stage obliged, elevating her a few inches into the air (nothing compared to her sky-high Super Bowl performance).

“Lift Me Up” marked Rihanna’s long-awaited return to music and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. As Göransson previously told Billboard, speaking of the film’s final scene in which the song plays: “When you hear her voice and the lyrics, that’s the point where you finally take it all in. You can see what a great filmmaker [director] Ryan [Coogler] is because in the scene right before you hear the song, it’s absolute silence. You see all these flashbacks, all these memories, and then you interrupt that [with] a song honoring Chadwick and [his character], T’Challa.”

The performance was celebrated with a standing ovation while the camera panned to A$AP Rocky, who lifted his champagne flute to the sky.