Fans outraged after Hulu ends Oscars broadcast early after streamer was plagued by outages

Social media users and fans were left seething after the livestream appeared to end early after the winner of best director was announced

Streaming service Hulu faces several problems during the Oscars broadcast (Getty)

Streaming service Hulu was plagued by technical difficulties during the 2025 Oscars on Sunday, including experiencing widespread outages and ending their live event before the main awards of the evening were announced.

Social media users and fans were left seething after the livestream appeared to end early, shortly after Sean Baker accepted the award for best director. Many missed out on the winners of best actress, and best picture – which went to Mikey Madison and Anora.

“I subscribed to @hulu again just for the Oscars and then they decide to cut off the show before Best Actress and Best Picture,” one user wrote. “What the f***?” added another. “Missed the end of the Oscar’s because Hulu is trash. Smh (shaking my head),” wrote another user.

Streaming service Hulu faces several problems during the Oscars broadcast. The Hulu stream ended after Sean Baker accepted the award for best director, and delivered a speech extolling the virtues of cinema over streaming - leaving viewers in the dark for some of the night’s biggest awards (AP)

Others pointed out the unfortunate timing of the mishap. “Sean Baker gives a speech about why movie theaters are better than streaming services and then Hulu goes down right before Best Picture is announced…case in point,” one user wrote.

“Hulu just kicked everybody off the Oscars broadcast while a director made a speech begging for people to care about movies. Cinema!” added another.

Shortly after the main event began, more than 34,000 customers reported experiencing problems cross multiple states, according to DownDetector.com. Users reported frozen and pixelated images. “Seriously? During the Oscars?” wrote one social media user. “So ready to ditch Hulu,” wrote another.

Another added: “Hey Hulu, get your s*** together!!! No one can watch #TheOscars right now on your service!”

Other fuming customers demanded a refund. “Hulu owes me a damn refund right about now. All that advertisement about streaming the #Oscars2025, only for the site to not work,” wrote one.

“Hulu is down during the Oscars telecast? I f****** better be getting a discount or recredited,” wrote another.

Many fans were outraged after missing the ceremony’s opening performance by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo (AP)

Many fans expressed outrage in missing a performance by Wicked stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, who opened the show with a medley of songs.

“F*** you Hulu logging me out and not letting me in so I missed Ariana’s performance,” added one user. “I MISSED THIS BECAUSE HULU'S F*** A**,” wrote another, posting a clip of the duet.

Hulu Support responded quickly to the outrage, writing on X: “Having issues logging in? If so – we’re on it! Our team is actively investigating, and we hope to have things back up and running soon.”

Later, the account added: “Our team has identified the issue and users affected should be able to log back in again soon. We apologize for the inconvenience. Thanks so much for hanging in there! Our team took the necessary steps to resolve this, so you should be all set after rebooting your device. We appreciate your patience!”