Awards shows can be fertile terrain for high-profile displays of affection. On Sunday, the Oscars were the site of what appeared to be a relationship soft launch (Teyona Taylor and Aaron Pierre), declarations of burning desire (Zoe Saldaña, for her husband’s hair) and one very public plea for children.

Near the end of his acceptance speech for the best supporting actor award, Kieran Culkin jokingly tried to hold his wife, Jazz Charton, to a promise she made in a parking lot as they were leaving the 75th Emmy Awards to “give” him a fourth child if he won an Oscar.

“And she turned to me — I swear to God this happened, it was just over a year ago — she said, ‘I will give you four when you win an Oscar,’” he recalled in front of several thousand people in the Dolby Theater and nearly 20 million more watching at home. “I held my hand out, she shook it, and I have not brought it up once until just now. You remember that, honey?”

“No pressure,” he continued. “I love you, I’m really sorry I did this again, and let’s get cracking on those kids — what do you say?”

The story seemed to play well in the room, with the in-person audience roaring in laughter at the couple’s long-ago deal. But Mr. Culkin was taking a risk by trotting out the anecdote: Even the most beloved jests and inside jokes — intimacies that every couple amass with time — can read as bizarre or even troubling outside the context of your relationship.

“It was very off-putting for me — it just kind of made me cringe,” said Kim Sauers, 31, of Wilmington, N.C., noting the current political climate and recent efforts to restrict women’s control of their bodies.