Photo: JEAN BAPTISTE LACROIX / AFP / Getty Images
Teyana Taylor is clearing the air after a tense moment caught on camera following the 2026 Oscars.
Video circulating on social media after Sunday night’s (March 15) ceremony shows the singer, actor, and Best Supporting Actress nominee confronting someone off-camera after she said the man shoved her during the post-show celebration.
In the clip, Taylor can be heard addressing the person directly while others nearby step in. “You’re a man putting your hands on a female. You’re very rude. Very rude,” Taylor says in the footage.
Another person nearby appears to agree with her assessment, saying the situation was “uncalled for.” Taylor continues speaking in the clip, emphasizing that the man “literally shoved” her and telling him not to touch her again.
After the ceremony, Taylor briefly addressed the moment while speaking with TMZ, downplaying the situation but standing firm on her boundaries. “Everybody’s having a good time and you know, security was just doing a lot,” Taylor told the outlet.
She added that while the moment caught attention online, she’s not dwelling on it. “I’m proud, I’m happy. There’s nothing to wonder. The first thing people do is definitely make assumptions, but at the end of the day, I just don’t tolerate disrespect — especially when it’s unwarranted and unprovoked,” she said.
According to a report from TMZ, the exchange may have happened as Taylor tried to return to the stage after the ceremony ended so she could take photos with her One Battle After Another castmates following the film’s Best Picture win. The outlet reported that security may have been involved as the celebration unfolded, though details about exactly what happened remain unconfirmed.
Earlier in the evening, Taylor had been part of the film’s emotional celebration onstage alongside director Paul Thomas Anderson. Footage from the broadcast shows her excitedly running up the stairs with the team and playfully putting Anderson in a headlock as they accepted the award.
The moment, she later explained, was an inside joke. Speaking with Variety, Taylor said the move was planned after a conversation they had earlier in awards season.
“You know what's crazy? We kind of took it back to Critics Choice,” she told the outlet. “I said, ‘Listen, if we get Best Picture, I’m going to gift you a helmet. I’m such a sports girl.’ It was that little inside joke. He already knew the headlock was coming.”
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