Gary from Chicago didn’t win an Oscar Sunday night, but he did have an unlikely path to the ceremony. As one of the unsuspecting guests the broadcast brought in by tour bus to the Oscars as part of Jimmy Kimmel’s attempt to capture regular people’s surprise at seeing so many celebrities, Gary Alan Coe and his fiancée were “married” on air by Denzel Washington. It must have been a strange reversal of fortune, as the Chicago Tribune reports that Coe was released from prison less than a week earlier. The Tribune couldn’t confirm exactly what Coe was convicted of, though his public defender said in a Facebook post that he received a life sentence in 1997 for stealing perfume. Coe’s public defender’s post also said her client won his freedom earlier this year and was released last Friday — just in time to be married by Denzel.
