In a surprising turn of events, former Oscars host Conan O'Brien revealed the Academy's surprisingly strict rules regarding its iconic statue. On his podcast, Conan Needs a Friend, O'Brien recounted how his team's creative promotional ideas were shot down, leaving him baffled by the Academy's rigidity.

O'Brien pitched a series of ads featuring himself and a nine-foot-tall Oscar statue in various humorous domestic scenarios. One idea involved the statue lounging on a couch, prompting O'Brien to playfully complain about its posture. However, the Academy firmly rejected this, along with other equally lighthearted concepts.

"We're fighting about things couples fight about," O'Brien explained. "At one point, I thought, wouldn't it be great if it's just on the couch? Let's lay it on a really big couch and I'll be vacuuming and say, 'Could you at least lift your feet? Or could you at least get up and help? Load the dishwasher?' We wanted to do it and they just said, 'No, no, no, that can't happen.'"

The Academy's reasoning, according to O'Brien, boils down to surprisingly strict rules about the statue's portrayal. "One of the people from the Academy came forward and said, 'Oscar can never be horizontal.' And that blew my mind," O'Brien stated. "Like, wow, this is like the thigh bone of St. Peter. This is a religious icon." He also mentioned that the Academy insisted the statue remain "always naked," thus nixing an idea where the statue wore an apron.

The History of Comic Book Movies at the Oscars

While the Academy's reasoning remains somewhat opaque, their rules are undeniably firm. It's unfortunate that O'Brien's creative vision was curtailed, but it certainly adds a humorous layer to the Oscars' behind-the-scenes story. Here's hoping for more Conan-esque humor at the 2026 ceremony—we're rooting for him!