Yes, it’s that time of year again: when Hollywood’s best and brightest come together to celebrate themselves, and maybe throw in an oh-so-vaguely left-wing comment about how “we need the arts right now more than ever.” But in the era of Donald Trump, did things get more caustic at the 89th Academy Awards?
Here’s a round-up of the big political shout-outs of the night.
1. “This is being watched live by millions of people in 225 countries that now hate us.” – host Jimmy Kimmel, above, in his opening monologue.
2. “I want to say thank you to President Trump. I mean, remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist? That’s gone, thanks to him.” – Jimmy Kimmel, in his opening monologue.
3. “In Hollywood, we don’t discriminate against people based on what countries they come from. We discriminate against them based on their age and weight.” – Jimmy Kimmel, in his opening monologue.
4. “Some of you get to come on this stage and make a speech that the president of the United States will tweet about in all-caps during his 5am bowel movement.”- Jimmy Kimmel, in his opening monologue.
5. “Meryl Streep has phoned it in for more than 50 films over the course of her lacklustre career. She wasn’t even in a movie this year – we just wrote her name in out of habit. Please join me in giving Meryl Streep a totally undeserved round of applause. The highly overrated Meryl Streep, everyone.” Jimmy Kimmel, referencing Trump’s comment that Streep (below) is “overrated”.
6. “Nice dress by the way – is that an Ivanka?” – Jimmy Kimmel to Meryl Streep
7. “Now it’s time for something that is very rare today: a president that believes in both arts and sciences.” – Jimmy Kimmel, while introducing Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs
8. “Inclusion makes us all stronger.” – Cheryl Boone Isaacs
9. “This is for all the immigrants” – Alessandro Bertolazzi, above right, accepting the award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling for Suicide Squad.
10. “Flesh-and-blood actors are migrant workers. We travel all over the world. We construct families, we build life, but we cannot be divided. As a Mexican, as a Latin American, as a migrant worker, as a human being, I’m against any form of wall that wants to separate us.” – Gael Garcia Bernal, while presenting the award for Best Animated Feature
11. “My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and from the other six nations who have been disrespected by the inhumane law which bans immigrants’ entry into the U.S. Dividing the world into the ‘us and our enemies’ categories creates fear, a deceitful justification for aggression and war.” – The Salesman director Asghar Farhadi, who boycotted the ceremony over Trump’s Muslim travel ban. His award was accepted on his behalf by former Nasa scientist Firouz Naderi and engineer/astronaut Anousheh Ansari, above.
12. “We are so grateful to audiences all over the world who embraced this film with this story of tolerance being more powerful than fear of the other.” – Zootopia director Rich Moore, while accepting the award for best animated feature
13. “All you people out there who feel like your life is not reflected, the Academy has your back, the ACLU has your back. For the next four years we will not leave you alone, we will not forget you.” – Barry Jenkins (above) while accepting the award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
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Now listen to Anna discussing the Oscars on the NS pop culture podcast, SRSLY:
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