Kumail Nanjiani's holocaust joke at Oscars sets tongues wagging: 'He is canceled'

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Kumail Nanjiani has sparked controversy online after reportedly making a Holocaust joke at the Oscars. The actor made the remark while presenting the award for Best Live Action Short Film on Sunday night, March 15.

After taking the stage, Nanjiani said, “There is a real art to making a short film. I think many full-length movies would do just as well, if not better, as short films. We should take some of these feature films and remake them as shorts. Save us some time.”

Kumail Nanjiani's double entendre's at the 2026 Oscars

The Pakistani-American comedian then went on to change the name of many famous films, like ‘It's A Wonderful Life’ to ‘It's A Wonderful Month’, ‘The King's Speech’ to ‘The King's Tweet’, and lastly ‘Schindler's List’ to ‘Schindler Post-It.’

'Schindler's List' is a 1993 movie directed by Steven Spielberg about a businessman who saved hundreds of Polish Jews from the Holocaust by giving them jobs at his factory.

Netizens divided over Kumail Nanjiani's wordplay

Meanwhile, people online were enraged by Nanjiani’s joke. One X user commented, “Kumail Nanjiani is CANCELLED!  Antisemite! Why didn't he make a joke about radical Islam? Christians?  Black people?  He is trash.  We will NEVER watch his content again.”

“The Oscars didn't take 1 second from its million-hour broadcast to mention Iranians dying for freedom. Yet still had a Holocaust joke. A room full of actors couldn't even feign a performance of compassion. Compare Hollywood's silence on Iran to its gobbledegook on Palestine,” another X user said.

But a person on the micro-blogging site defended him, saying, “Rubbish, it was a joke about film titles and fine within its context — grow up!”

The second one wrote, “It was a play on the title, it did not make fun of the holocaust.”

“That's why the outrage?? for a JOKE about MOVIES BEING SHORTER? ZIONISTS NEED TO CHILL OUT... THEY'VE BECOME THE WOKE RIGHT CANCEL CULTURE AND THE TIDE IS TURNING AGAINST THEIR BS,” a comment read.

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.