The world is ever-changing, and it’s becoming harder to stay up-to-date on what’s happening. With all this constant change, some moments stand out and shape our future as a species.Â
These moments can come from anything: popular culture, politics, sports, or even science. We’ve compiled a list of the top pop culture moments for 2022 that grabbed headlines.
Will Smith Slaps Chris Rock at 2022 Oscar Awards Ceremony
Will Smith and Chris Rock have been friends for years, so you can imagine how shocked everyone was when Will smacked him in the face at the 2022 Oscars ceremony. Chris was hosting that year, and he had a lot of jokes about Will’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith.Â
After one particularly mean joke about Jada’s haircut, Will Smith got up from his chair and walked towards Rock only to slap him squarely in the face. The moment was so spontaneous and sudden that everyone thought it was a gag orchestrated by the two actors.Â
However, as the camera pans toward Smith, who is now back in his seat, he can be seen screaming at Chris Rock to keep his wife’s name out of his mouth.
Will Smith went on to win the Best Actor Academy Award for King Richard. However, the incident led the board to ban Will Smith from all Academy Awards events and programs for ten years.
Johnny Depp Sues Amber Heard in Defamation Case
The Hollywood actor filed a defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard, claiming that she defamed him by accusing him of domestic abuse. In response, Heard countersued and claimed that Depp was abusive when they were married. Both sides agreed to settle their divorce in 2017. But now both sued each other again over allegations made during their split.
Depp said that he is suing because he feels that Heard has cost him jobs in Hollywood after accusing him of being violent towards her, even though there’s no evidence to back up her claims or any record of Depp being arrested or convicted for anything related to domestic violence or battery charges.
While the case reached the verdict in June 2022, several unreleased court documents uncovered by The Daily Beast revealed some shocking new information about the case.Â
CODA on Apple TV+ Wins Best Movie Oscar Award
CODA, a film directed by Sian Heder and written by Heder and Ross Partridge, won the Best Movie Oscar Award at the Academy Awards this year. “CODA” became the first film with a mostly deaf cast to win Best Picture and the first Apple TV+ title to win an Academy Award.
Troy Kotsur is the first deaf male actor ever nominated for an acting award at any major awards ceremony in history (Oscar, Golden Globe). He has been nominated twice for his Troy Silcox role on “The Americans” but failed to win both times.
Apple became the first streaming service honored with Best Picture at the Academy Awards since Netflix won three years ago with “Roma” and “Bird Box.” It marks another milestone for Apple TV+, launched in 2019 after months of delays due to technical glitches related to its initial launch date.
Elon Musk Buys Twitter
Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, bought Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion. The move was controversial because some thought it would prevent Twitter from being a valuable and unbiased social media platform.Â
Others said that Elon Musk had no interest in doing anything that would hurt the integrity of Twitter. When he announced his plans for the company, he said he wanted to use it to better humanity.
As part of Elon Musk’s vision for his acquisition of Twitter, he will rebrand all products under the name “Twitter” so that they all share one brand (like Google). It also means that all previous apps will be discontinued as well as their websites. Instead, you’ll have to download them from Apple or Google Play stores like before but now with an entirely new brand name.
Taylor Swift Creates History by Grabbing The Entire Top 10 on Hot 100
You may not have been aware then, but one of the most important things to happen in 2022 was Taylor Swift’s feat of taking every spot on the top 10 singles chart. She has always been a huge cultural icon, but this particular move was a significant milestone in her career, and it had some important implications for music and pop culture as a whole.
It all started when Swift released an album called LP Midnights with such hits as “Anti-Hero,” “Lavender Haze,” and “Maroon.” With this, Taylor Swift has surpassed Drake, who had 9 of the Hot 100’s top 10 for a week in September 2021. Swift also beat the Beatles to achieve this feat.
Avatar Sequel to Release 13 Years After the Original Did
Movie sequels have been around for a long time, and you can check out an interesting take on the Too Much CGI podcast. It’s been 13 years since James Cameron’s Avatar was released, and now we’re finally getting a sequel.Â
The new film, Avatar: The Way of Water, will be released on December 16th, 2022. It is a big deal because it will be the first time James Cameron has directed a movie in over ten years. He’s most famous for directing Titanic while working on sequels to Avatar.
The original Avatar was released in 2009 as one of the most successful movies ever made, with over $2 billion at the box office worldwide. It won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.
Conclusion
We hope these events have given you an overview of the most significant pop culture moments of 2022. Many more exciting things will happen in the coming years, but these are what we consider the most important ones right now.
