We Need to Talk About Marc Anthony Playing When ‘Encanto’ Won Oscar

At the 2022 Oscars ceremony on Sunday Night, Disney’s Encanto won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. As the co-directors/co-producers Jared Bush, Byron Howard, and co-producers Clark Spencer and Yvett Merino made their way on stage, the band played what many viewers recognized as an instrumental version of Marc Anthony’s “Vivir Mi Vida”. 

The issue here is one of a lack of visibility. The Academy recognizes a film that vibrantly celebrates Colombian culture, only for the honor to be bestowed with a Puerto Rican sung backing track that has nothing to do with the film, which is inherently harmful. It not only shows a lack of understanding of the intricacies of our culture, but seems like an ignorant grouping of all of Latine cultures into one label, which we all know is an unfair mistruth, especially from an institution that claims to be striving towards a more diverse image.  

Here’s what all of you thought about the Academy’s slip-up:

One user summed up the issue at hand beautifully:

Another user expressed confusion over the Academy’s decision:

Honestly, we had the same question as this user:

Of course, the Twitter verse already has memes to spare about this moment, with one user tweeting: “The Colombians seeing that they played a Marc Anthony song when Encanto won”

Another user joined in, tweeting “AND NOW ENCANTO WON AND THEY PLAYED MARC ANTHONY! THE DJ AT THE OSCARS HAS COMMITTED A HATE CRIME”

This Sabado Gigante reference meme is truly what we needed to see:

The reactions and memes are only picking up from here — and it’d be interesting to see how many more people share their thoughts with the song choice for this win.