Bill Nighy Reveals Hilarious Reason He Took a Toy Rabbit to The Oscars

Award seasons always bring out the unusual in our much-adored celebs. The Oscars red carpet highlighted the best and the worst of Hollywood stars. Their groundbreaking antics either earned them much praise or became subject to brutal online trolling and memes. But no one pulled off their antic with more panache than Bill Nighy. What was the Living actor trying to convey? Was it some hidden agenda to protest on behalf of pygmy rabbits or a signal of solidarity with a community God? Whatever, the Love Actually star turned heads on Oscar's red carpet, holding a toy-like rabbit in his hand that was also mysteriously stained. While posing for the cameras, Nighy pulled a stained Sylvanian Family rabbit out of his pocket and displayed it to the world, per The Guardian. 

British thespian and first-time Academy Award nominee Nighy was nominated at the 2023 Oscars for his role in Living. And he surely made a memorable appearance with a tiny Sylvanian bunny in tow. The grey bunny had artful smears of something that looked like ketchup or spaghetti sauce across the forehead and shoulders. The bunny is a member of the Babblebrook family, a design classic that was part of the original Sylvanian Families launch in the mid-1980s but is now unavailable.

The eagle-eyed people on social media also figured out the historical identity of the grey rabbit in Nighy's hands. Babblebrook is a prominent Sylvanian family dating back to 1985, also known as the Calico Critters collection. WOW!! But why did the Oscar nominee carry the bunny to the award ceremony and flaunt it? People were still losing sleep over the reason. 

The answer finally came from the man himself. On Monday, March 13, 2023, Nighy revealed that he was bunny-sitting for his granddaughter and got too engrossed in the role. He told the Metro, "My granddaughter's schedule intensified, and I was charged with rabbit-sitting responsibilities." The actor added how the little girl follows her grandpa everywhere. "I wasn't prepared to leave her unattended in a hotel room. The stakes are too high. Where I go, she goes." Aww!! 

All sounds good, but the presumably sinister bunny also had stains. What does that signify? Some Twitter users assumed it was murdered by gunshot. The unidentified sauce appears to be ketchup but could also be a gochujang sauce or red berry syrup. Who was responsible for the splash of sauce, Nighy or his granddaughter? 

The answer to that remained a mystery throughout the Oscar ceremony. But one thing's for sure, the bunny signified no serious cause but was just an adorable tribute by a doting grandfather for his little granddaughter. People on the internet were head over heels in love with the gesture. Twitter user, @grqntt shared a video clip of the actor, captioned, "Bill Nighy holding the bunny??" @Safimkss summed up the experience in a post: "Bill Nighy carrying a sylvanian bunny is gold."

The veteran star did not win but if there was an award for the best Oscar red carpet date, it's clear who would have won.