Years from now, historians will describe the 2021 Oscars as a series of unfortunate events. Today, we call it a giant, joyless mess. The endless speeches, the humorless presenters, that twist — this year's Academy Awards stumbled, to say the least. But, even with all the wrong they did, I think we can all agree that the biggest mistake of the 2021 Oscars was sidelining Minari star Alan Kim. (Not giving an Oscar to Chadwick Boseman was obviously a close second.)

The award season's most adorable participant was, sadly, not nominated for his work in Minari, but that didn't stop him from walking the red carpet like a pro. He posed for the cameras, charmed interviewers, and he even did a little jig to get things started. And he looked incredible doing it! (I'm normally firmly against shorts at the Oscars, but Alan Kim is the exception.) So why wasn't he actually, you know, in the Oscars? Was it an oversight? A desire to avoid the cutesy bits of Oscars past? Honestly, the reason doesn't matter so much as the fact that it happened.

Listen, Oscar producers, I hate to tell you how to do your job, but when you have a kid as cute as Alan Kim, you put him on camera. And you do it for more than just a peak of him playing on his Nintendo Switch during the ceremony. This 9-year-old star did not dress up in his Thom Browne shorts suit and gel his hair to new heights to be an audience member at a 3-hour plus awards show.