Why these 3 Oscar winners turned down their Academy Awards

The Academy Awards is Hollywood's most important event, and the Oscars its biggest prize. So who are the winners who declined the vaunted statuette?

Winning an Oscar is considered the biggest honor an actor, writer, producer or director can receive. Why would anyone turn that down?

And yet three people in the history of the awards have done just that. The reasons vary: Some wanted to draw attention to a cause, others felt strongly the annual glamour fest was an embarrassment to the profession.

The Oscars got their start back in 1929 at a rather sedate hotel dinner for 270 stars and Hollywood denizens. The next year, the ceremony was broadcast on radio. From there, the race was on.

The awards show soon picked up a catchy nickname, and quickly became the industry's ne plus ultra event broadcast around the world. Last year, 19.7 million people tuned in to see Adrien Brody ("The Brutalist") and Mikey Madison ("Anora") happily make the walk to the stage to accept the coveted trophy.

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