The grand In Memoriam tribute at the 2020 Academy Awards was gorgeous, but the somber homage to the filmmakers lost this past year was missing two famous faces who died in 2019: Cameron Boyce and Luke Perry. Cameron, who starred in the Grown Ups films with Adam Sandler, was just 20 years old when he died in his sleep in July 2019 after experiencing an epileptic seizure. Luke, the legendary actor who starred in this year’s Best Picture nominee, Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood, was only 52 when he suffered a stroke and died in March 2019. The outrage was swift when fans noticed the glaring omission, demanding to know on Twitter how the Academy could have forgotten such a beloved soul while supposedly honoring the fallen of the film industry.
“Luke Perry deserves better. #InMemoriam,” one fan tweeted immediately after the snub became apparent. “Was Luke Perry left off the “In Memoriam” slideshow in the same year a film he’s in is nominated 10 times? Yeesh, #Oscars. #LukePerry #AcademyAwards,” another wrote, pointing out the Academy’s egregious error. “Oof! Not including Cameron Boyce and Luke Perry was a HUGE mistake academy! #Oscars.” One of Cameron’s fans spelled out exactly why his snub was so wrong: “cameron boyce had such a huge impact into a lot of people’s lives including people in the film industry. just cause his career centered mostly around Disney didn’t make him any less of an actor. him being left out of the in memoriam just felt wrong,” they wrote.
It’s horrible, but there’s always at least one person the Oscars manage to omit during the In Memoriam segment. At the 2019 show, it was legendary comedian Carol Channing, who passed away at the age of 97 of natural causes. Carol was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 1968 Academy Awards for playing Muzzy Van Hossmere in Thoroughly Modern Millie. A number of other actors, producers, musicians, and more were left out, including Austin Powers star Verne Troyer. Verne died by suicide at the age of 49.