Leslie Jordan and Anne Heche snubbed from In Memoriam at Oscars 2023 – and fans are furious
Leslie Jordan and Anne Heche are just two of the stars left out of the Oscars’ ‘In Memoriam’ tribute. (Getty/Jerod Harris)
Stars including Leslie Jordan and Anne Heche were omitted from the Oscars’ In Memoriam section on Sunday (12 March) and fans are less than impressed.
While the ceremony did score big points from the queer community for finally giving Michelle Yeoh her flowers, many LGBTQ+ people are raging that such figureheads in the entertainment industry were left out of the tribute section.
Hollywood’s gay sweetheart Leslie Jordan was best known for his TV roles in Will & Grace and Call Me Kat, but he also had parts in more than 30 films, including The Help and Love Ranch.
Queer Emmy winner Anne Heche, meanwhile, had starred in more than 40 films including Six Days, Seven Nights and I Know What You Did Last Summer.
John Travolta got emotional paying tribute to his Grease co-star Olivia Newton-John as he introduced the In Memoriam tribute performance by Lenny Kravitz.
Actors including Robbie Coltrane, Kirstie Alley and Raquel Welch were featured on screen behind Kravitz, but Heche and Jordan were noticeably absent.
“I don’t know who put this tribute together, but they left out major names,” one person shared on social media. “They didn’t include Leslie Jordan, Barbara Walters, Anne Heche or Tom Sizemore – why?”
Another said it was particularly “graceless” and “shameful” to ignore Jordan from the list, considering he had announced the 2021 Oscar nominees alongside Tracee Ellis Ross just months before his death.
A third wrote: “I just realised that Leslie Jordan wasn’t included in the In Memoriam at the Oscars. Livid does not begin to cover my feelings.”
The Oscars did include both Heche and Jordan in the full In Memoriam section on its website, but some are questioning whether that’s enough of a tribute for such huge stars.
“I understand that there is not room for everyone in the Oscars’ In Memoriam montages,” wrote Time Out critic Adam Feldman. “But how on earth did Anne Heche and Paul Sorvino not make the cut? Who is making these calls?”
Other than Jordan, Heche and Sorvino, the televised tribute also didn’t include actress Charlbi Dean, despite the late actress featuring in Triangle of Sadness, which was nominated for Best Picture at this year’s ceremony.
Leslie Jordan was found in his crashed BMW in Hollywood in last October. The LA Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner revealed earlier this year that the actor had died of “sudden cardiac dysfunction”, and the car crash was caused due to a medical emergency.
Anne Heche died in August last year due to catastrophic injuries she sustained following a car crash in LA.
