Story of the Week The Surprising, Queer History of the 1974 Oscars Streaker

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The Oscars seems to be cursed with a series of chaotic live television gaffes. But one moment in Academy Award history takes the cake. In 1974, a scrawny white man named Robert Opel ran across the stage butt naked, right as the Best Picture category was being announced. New Yorker magazine writer and Oscars aficionado Michael Schulman recounts the queer, wonderful, and historic life of the 1974 Oscars streaker.

You can read the full story here. Get Michael Schulman’s new book Oscar Wars here.

The Host

Joel Stein

Joel Stein, host of the Story of the Week podcast, has been a journalist for 25 years, including 20 at Time magazine where he wrote 22 cover stories. Stein has…