Oscars wouldn’t let Hopkins zoom collect award from Wales after he refused to travel to London

The Academy Award producers refused to let Anthony Hopkins collect his award from Wales over Zoom after he refused to travel to London.

Hopkins was home asleep in Wales when he won his second academy award for “The Father”.

Nominees needed to either turn up in Los Angeles or be at one of the Oscar ‘hubs’ – including one at the BFI Southbank in London.

But Hopkins’ reps said that he had “no desire” to leave Wales to travel to London and they asked that he could join over Zoom instead.

According to IndieWire, Hopkins’ reps “pleaded” with producers to allow the star to Zoom in but they wouldn’t make the exception. He later posted an acceptance speech on Instagram.

His win came as a surprise as many had expected Chadwick Boseman, who died last year of cancer age 43, to be awarded a posthumous award for his role in Black Bottom.

Anthony Hopkins later paid tribute to Boseman in his speech.

“I want to pay tribute to Chadwick Boseman, who was taken from us far too early. Again, thank you all very much,” Hopkins said. “I really did not expect this, so I feel very privileged and honoured, thank you.”

The running order of the Oscars ceremony had been changed so that the Best Actor award came last, with some suspecting that the producers had anticipated a win for Chadwick Boseman.

Anthony Hopkins’ absence, therefore, meant that the ceremony ended on what some showbiz pundits described as an anti-climactic note.