3 minutes to read<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/header>\nBOSTON (AP) \u2014 Actor Michael Keaton jousted with an Oscar statue and made burgers Friday night as he was roasted before receiving the 2026 Man of the Year by Harvard University\u2019s Hasty Pudding Theatricals.<\/p>\n
The theater group, which dates to 1844 and claims to be the world\u2019s third-oldest still operating, presented Keaton with his Pudding Pot award during the evening celebration. Afterward, he attended a performance of Hasty Pudding\u2019s 177th production, \u201cSalooney Tunes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hasty Pudding Theatricals gives out its Man and Woman of the Year awards to people who have made lasting and impressive contributions to the world of entertainment.<\/p>\n
Keaton, an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning actor, is known for roles in such films as \u201cBatman,\u201d \u201cBirdman,\u201d \u201cBeetlejuice\u201d and \u201cSpotlight.\u201d More recently, he starred in and directed the short film \u201cSweetwater\u201d and starred in and was executive producer on the eight-part Hulu miniseries \u201cDopesick.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ceremony opened with Keaton donning a Batman costume and chasing after an Oscar statue \u2014 a nod to the fact he never won one, though he was nominated in 2015 for \u201cBirdman.\u201d Keaton then jousted with the figure before stabbing it after the statue told him, \u201cI thought your performance in \u2018Birdman\u2019 was subpar.\u201d<\/p>\n
He later was dressed up as a McDonald\u2019s worker, a reference to his role playing Ray Kroc in a movie about the making of the fast food megachain. Armed with a spatula, he served a single customer who increasingly demanded bigger and bigger burgers while Keaton tried his best.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t think I could do this. Make a huge burger for the guy,\u201d Keaton said.<\/p>\n
Keaton then received his Pudding Pot. After spending the day on campus, he praised Harvard students.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m ridiculously encouraged about this country,\u201d he said. \u201cThe older generation not so much. Man, these people I\u2019ve met are extraordinarily impressive. It\u2019s been a ball. Based on these people, we are in good shape folks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Afterward, he took questions from reporters and recalled his time working with Catherine O\u2019Hara, the Canadian-born comic actor and \u201cSCTV\u201d alum who died last week. Keaton starred alongside O\u2019Hara in \u201cBeetlejuice\u201d and \u201cThe Paper,\u201d along with the small movie \u201cGame 6,\u201d in which she played the ex-wife of Keaton\u2019s character.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just always a giant fan like everyone else,\u201d Keaton said while recalling the early days of her career. \u201cWhat was great about Catherine\u2019s career to me was \u2026 inside the comedy world, she was already kind of a goddess. \u2026 She wasn\u2019t really famous or anything, but we all knew how brilliant she was and how great she was and what a nice woman she was. And so then it started to take off for her.\u201d<\/p>\nActor Michael Keaton holds up his Pudding Pot that he received after being named 2026 Man of the Year from Harvard University\u2019s Hasty Pudding Theatricals at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo\/Michael Casey)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nKeaton also recalled how much he came to admire Kroc in the making of the movie and made sure Kroc understood they would not \u201csugarcoat\u201d or \u201csoften\u201d his portrayal.<\/p>\n
Keaton added that for all Kroc\u2019s faults, \u201cHe was an unbelievably hard worker. That was the thing I hung on to, that determination.\u201d<\/p>\n
Actor Jon Hamm won the award last year. Other recent honorees have included Clint Eastwood, Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro, Harrison Ford, Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds.<\/p>\n
Hasty Pudding\u2019s Woman of the Year, which dates to 1951, will be awarded Feb. 13 to Australian actor Rose Byrne.<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s event comes days after the Justice Department released a huge trove of records surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, a longtime donor to the organization. The documents provided new details about the amount of money Epstein had given to Hasty Pudding roughly between 2013 and 2019, regularly donating $50,000 each year to secure top-tier donor status and receiving perks of free tickets and other gifts in return, totaling more than $300,000.<\/p>\n
The donations were made through the Jeffrey Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation and Gratitude for America, a charity affiliated with Epstein.<\/p>\n
In an undated news release announcing Epstein\u2019s donations, Hasty Pudding officials described Epstein as a \u201cwell-known science and Harvard philanthropist\u201d and said he \u201cput his substantial support behind Harvard\u2019s famous and oldest theatrical troupe.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Hasty Pudding directed questions to Andrew Farkas, chairman of the Hasty Pudding Institute of 1770, which includes the theatrical group. Hasty Pudding organizers did not address the Epstein donations during Keaton\u2019s news conference.<\/p>\n