Diversity wins at Oscars marred by best picture goof-up
LOS ANGELES The jaw-dropping conclusion of the 89th Academy Awards eclipsed everything else in a ceremony that was packed to the brim with jabs at US President Donald Trump, salutes to diversity and passionate arguments for inclusivity.
The academy usually throws awards at films such as La La Land that gaze lovingly at Hollywood, but Moonlight, Barry Jenkins’ heartfelt coming-of-age drama seduced academy voters in the end, a subtle tide change perhaps informed by both a prickly political climate and an urgent imperative to honour more diverse films after two years of #OscarsSoWhite.
Diversity could be found in every corner of the awards , with supporting acting wins for Moonlight’s Mahershala Ali and Fences’ Viola Davis, though the best actor category proved to be a bit of an upset when Casey Affleck won for Manchester by the Sea over Denzel Washington of Fences.
The improvement followed efforts by Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences President Cheryl Boone Isaacs to diversify its largely white, older and male membership. “Tonight is proof that art has no borders, no single language and does not belong to a single faith,” said Isaacs.
Davis gave a powerful speech in which she praised the late Fences playwright August Wilson who, she said, “Exhumed and exalted the ordinary people.”
Ezra Edelman, whose nearly eight-hour epic OJ: Made in America took best documentary, dedicated the award to the victims of the famous crime, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
The majority of speeches were moving and personal and generally in praise of art’s ability to create empathy in the world, including Jenkins’ in his win for adapted screenplay, who said, “All you people out there who feel like there isn’t a mirror out there for you, the Academy has your back, the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) has your back, and for the next four years we will not leave you alone, we will not forget you.”
Politics stayed largely with host Jimmy Kimmel, who kept his barbs coy and irreverent, stating at the start that he wasn’t the man to unite the country.
The host peppered the evening with digs at President Trump, at one point asking the crowd to stand for the “overrated Meryl Streep,” and, later, for any news outlet with the word “Times” in its name to leave, saying, “We have no tolerance for fake news.”
Kimmel even jokingly thanked the president for shifting the focus of the night. “Remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist?” he said.
The evening’s most blunt protests against Trump came not