But for host Chris Rock, it was an opportunity to address the controversy that has followed the Oscars from nomination day to its golden night.
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African Americans in the film industry were expected to take a side. You’re damn right. But Hollywood is sorority racist. “I thought about quitting”, he said.
While I’m happy that a film that was important and really had something in its soul won out over the cold, dark, inhuman film that was The Revenant; I’m also happy to get that reaffirmation of the importance of investigative journalism. It’s just, we want opportunity.
Moments later, crowd reaction was more muted when Rock said, “Is Hollywood racist?” They were, he said, “too busy being raped and lynched to care who won best cinematography”.
Rock said he wanted to help his daughters who always complained that they weren’t able to sell as much cookies.
British singer Sam Smith picked up the best original song Oscar and dedicated his award to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.
The entire room had their fingers crossed for Leonardo DiCaprio to finally win an Oscar on Sunday, but his biggest fan was his mom, Irmelin Indenbirken.
The paucity of minority nominees this year led to calls for a boycott among some black stars, including Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee.
He added: “That’s how Hollywood is but things are changing”.
Although Rock had remained quiet on the #OscarsSoWhite furor in the weeks leading up to the show, Oscars producer Reginald Hudlin said last month that the host was rewriting his opening monologue to call out the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which votes on the Oscars. He said she wasn’t invited anyway, much as he wasn’t invited to “Rihanna’s panties”. Actor-comedian Hart joked on Twitter that academy voters are “Straight Out of Touch”.
The other major upset came in the best supporting actor category, where Sylvester Stallone, riding waves of goodwill and great reviews for his touching revival of his Rocky Balboa persona for the movie “Creed“, was unexpectedly edged out by British actor Mark Rylance’s brooding, subtly polished rendering of Russian spy Rudolf Abel in the Cold War thriller “Bridge of Spies“. His sharp commentary and irreverent style was flawless for a year in which the Oscars needed a little levity.
The 88th Annual Academy Awards had controversy, Chris Rock, and a few surprises, but the big storylines on Hollywood’s biggest night brought in the third-lowest viewership in the show’s history.
During his acceptance speech, Leonardo used his time at the podium to urge people to be more environmentally conscious.
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Even one of the Oscars’ biggest moments of inclusion, in which Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu made history by winning a best director Oscar for the second consecutive year (the first time that’s happened in 65 years), came with a bit of an asterisk.
