Estonia Responds To Conan O’Brien’s Oscar Joke After Latvia’s ‘Flow’ Win: “The Ball Really Is In Our Court Now” – Deadline
By Nellie Andreeva Co-Editor-in-Chief, TV
It was a big night for Baltic countries at the 2025 Oscars. Latvia, population 1.9 million, walked away with the Best Animated Feature award for indie Flow over boxoffice hits from Hollywood’s biggest animation studios.
“This is the first time a film from Latvia has ever been nominated so it truly means a lot for us,” the film’s director Gints Zilbalodis said in his acceptance speech.
The achievement did not go unnoticed by Oscar host Conan O’Brien, who later in the telecast acknowledged Latvia for winning its first Oscar before shifting the spotlight to another Baltic country. “Ball’s in your court, Estonia!” he said of Latvia’s neighbor, population 1.3M.
Estonia’s top politicians got in on the joke and accepted the challenge.
Watch on Deadline
The country’s Prime Minister Kristen Michal congratulated Zilbalodis “and all dear Latvian friends” with the Oscar win on X, adding, “We’ve got you, @ConanOBrien. Estonia will do its best to catch up.”
Estonia’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna also issued congratulations. “A huge round of applause to the crew of #Flow for winning the first-ever Academy Award for Latvian filmmakers! 👏,” he wrote on X. “This is a proud moment for Latvia, & Estonia is thrilled to celebrate alongside our dear southern neighbors!”
The Estonia Ministry of Foreign Affairs retweeted Tsahkna’s message with the note, “The ball really is in our court now.”
In Latvia, Flow‘s Oscar win triggered countrywide celebrations, with President Edgars Rinkēvičs calling it “a great and historic day” for the country.Congratulations, @gintszilbalodis and the team, @EvikaSilina and all dear Latvian friends.The Flow has carried you to great sucess at #Oscars2025. We’ve got you, @ConanOBrien. Estonia will do its best to catch up. pic.twitter.com/ABz7yBUJXuThe ball really is in our court now. Congratulations, dear neighbors 🇱🇻! https://t.co/b8670s2TrIGet our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networksWe want to hear from you! Send us a tip using our annonymous form.Sign up for our breaking news alerts
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2025 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Source: http://deadline.com/2025/03/estonia-reaction-conan-obrien-oscars-joke-latvia-flow-1236309241/
