'Driving force' for marriage equality: Billy Crystal's emotional Oscars tribute to Rob Reiner

Sunday’s Academy Awards show started the annual tribute to the people Hollywood lost in the last year with a moving remembrance of director Rob Reiner, and an unexpected salute to the work he and his wife did on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community.

Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner were found murdered in their Brentwood, California, home in December, following a party hosted by this year’s Oscars host, comic Conan O’Brien.

Midway through Sunday night’s broadcast from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, O’Brien invited actor Billy Crystal to the stage to pay tribute to his longtime friend.

"My friend Rob's movies will last a lifetime because they were about what makes us laugh and cry and what we aspire to be: far better in his eyes, far kinder, far funnier, and far more human," Crystal said.

Crystal named some of Reiner’s memorable achievements in film: classic movies such as This Is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, A Few Good Men, Misery, and 1989’s When Harry Met Sally — which is where Reiner met Singer. Crystal also paid tribute to her career as a photographer and award-winning producer.

Then Crystal noted the couple’s impact on civil rights.

"Rob and Michele Reiner became the driving force in the landmark decision for marriage equality in the United States," said Crystal, and the audience burst into resounding applause. "Their loss is immeasurable."

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Their son, Nick Reiner, is charged with killing his parents, allegedly stabbing them to death. Last month he pleaded not guilty to murder charges.

Following the news of their gruesome deaths, national media outlets, including People magazine, and advocacy groups such as the Human Rights Campaign, heralded the Reiners' efforts as allies and activists in support of marriage equality. As The Advocate reported, Reiner's greatest contribution to the LGBTQ+ community was as cofounder of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which funded the legal fight against Proposition 8, the California ballot measure that revoked marriage equality in the state.
In 2011, Reiner likened the Proposition 8 case to the landmark civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education, which determined that separate is not equal.

“We don’t believe in separate but equal in any other legal position except this,” Reiner said at that time. “We feel that this is the last piece of the civil rights puzzle being put into place.”

At HRC's Los Angeles dinner in 2019, Reiner spoke out for LGBTQ+ equality, saying, “We have to move past singling out transgender, LGBTQ, black, white, Jewish, Muslim, Latino. We have to get way past that and start accepting the idea that we're all human beings. We’re all human beings, we all share the same planet, and we should all have the same rights, period. It's no more complicated than that.”

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During Sunday night’s tribute, Crystal was joined on stage by stars from Reiner’s films, including Meg Ryan, Demi Moore, Kathy Bates, Wil Wheaton, Jerry O’Connell, Kiefer Sutherland, Mandy Patinkin, and more.

The tributes to the stars that followed included a rare appearance by Barbra Streisand in honor of actor/director and Sundance Film Festival creator Robert Redford. She received a standing ovation as she belted out the hit theme song from their 1973 film, The Way We Were.