The 87th annual Academy Awards took a break from celebration Sunday night to honor the gifted creatives Hollywood lost over the past year. The tribute, which began with a heartfelt speech by Meryl Streep, paid homage to visionaries including Robin Williams, Mike Nichols, Maya Angelou, Richard Attenborough and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Notably left out of the remembrance was iconic comedian Joan Rivers. The decision was criticized across social media.
"Joan Rivers is among the many worthy artists and filmmakers we were unfortunately unable to feature in the In Memoriam segment of this year's Oscar show," a representative for the Academy Awards said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. "She is, however, included in our In Memoriam gallery on Oscar.com."
While Rivers was not necessarily known for her movie appearances -- though she did co-write and direct the 1978 movie "Rabbit Test" -- the late comic is often cited as having redefined red-carpet culture.
Despite the In Memoriam snub, Rivers did receive one tribute on Sunday night, from her daughter, Melissa Rivers.
"It's hard to believe it was 20 years ago that my mother and I stood on this very red carpet for the first time," Rivers said in a video that aired on the E! network. "My mom asked questions that nobody else dared to ask."
Rivers wasn't the only celebrity not mentioned during the In Memoriam segment: Elaine Stritch, Richard Kiel and Taylor Negron were also excluded.