Anti-Trump Oscars Billboards Took Over Sunset Boulevard Ahead of 98th Annual Academy Awards

Hours before Hollywood’s biggest night began, a different kind of premiere quietly unfolded along Sunset Boulevard — one that had nothing to do with red carpets or acceptance speeches.

In the lead-up to the 2026 Academy Awards, a series of guerrilla-style billboards appeared across Los Angeles, reimagining a Best Picture-winning film as a pointed political critique of President Donald Trump and the ongoing U.S.–Israeli war with Iran. Designed to mimic a glossy movie campaign, the posters blurred the line between entertainment marketing and protest, inserting politics directly into the visual language of awards season.

The billboards, created by activist group Everyone Hates Elon, borrowed heavily from the aesthetic of One Battle After Another, the film that ultimately took home Best Picture. But instead of actor Leonardo DiCaprio, the posters featured images of Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and scenes of destruction from conflict zones.

The faux credits read: “Starring: Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Pete Hegseth, Benjamin Netanyahu. From the directors of the Gaza genocide,” while satirical elements included a fake review attributed to Jeffrey Epstein reading, “A great distraction,” alongside a fabricated five-star rating from Palantir.

The placement of the billboards was no coincidence. Installed without permission across Hollywood just hours before the Oscars, the campaign was designed to intersect with one of the most visible nights in entertainment.

“And the Academy Award goes to…. Donald Trump for acting like he wouldn’t start costly foreign wars that kill innocent people,” the group wrote on Instagram, claiming credit for the stunt.

By adopting the visual language of film promotion, the campaign positioned itself as an unofficial extension of Oscars discourse — turning movie posters into political commentary and leveraging the cultural attention surrounding the ceremony.

Everyone Hates Elon, a British activist collective, has built a reputation for attention-grabbing public installations targeting powerful figures.

In a previous campaign, the group protested Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s Venice wedding festivities by blanketing the Piazza San Marco with a large image of the billionaire’s face and the caption, “If you can rent Venice for your wedding then you can pay more tax.”

The group also deployed provocative visuals ahead of Trump’s U.K. visit, including a display near Windsor Castle linking the former president to Jeffrey Epstein.

The Sunset Boulevard billboards follow a similar strategy: high-visibility placements, pop culture references and a willingness to provoke reaction.

The stunt also reflects a broader trend that has increasingly defined awards season. This year’s Oscars featured multiple political moments onstage, from Jimmy Kimmel’s pointed jokes about Trump and CBS to Conan O’Brien’s commentary on global instability.

Against that backdrop, the billboards extended the conversation beyond the Dolby Theatre and into the streets of Hollywood itself. As the Oscars unfolded just blocks away, the billboards showed that the boundary between entertainment and politics is not just blurred, it’s part of the show.