Diversity wins at Oscars marred by best picture goof-up
LOS ANGELES : The 89th Academy Awards ended with the most stunning mistake ever to befall the esteemed show when the best picture Oscar was presented to the wrong movie. Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty, holding an incorrect envelope, wrongly presented the top prize to La La Land, instead of Moonlight.
The jaw-dropping conclusion eclipsed everything else in a ceremony that was packed to the brim with Donald Trump jabs, salutes to diversity, and passionate arguments for inclusivity.
Besides the best actress statuette for Emma Stone, Damien Chazelle’s musical La La Land won for cinematography, production, score and the song City of Stars. Chazelle, 32, also became the youngest to win best director.
Protests, boycotts and rallies had swirled ahead of Sunday night’s Oscars but host Jimmy Kimmel, in his opening monologue, said he “was not that guy” to heal a divided America.
The wins of Viola Davis for Fences, and Mahershala Ali for Moonlight marked the first time in more than a decade that multiple Oscar acting honours went to black actors.
“I became an artist, and thank god I did, because we are the only profession to celebrate what it means to live a life,” said Davis, the best supporting actress winner. Ali, who won best supporting actor, glowed on the stage as he informed the crowd that he welcomed a daughter four days earlier.
Both stuck to more private reflections over politics. But a more blunt protest came from a winner not in attendance.
Best foreign film for the second time went to Asghar Farhadi, director of Iran’s A Salesman.
Farhadihad said he wouldn’t attend because of Trump’s travel ban to seven predominantly Muslim nations.
Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian
AND THE OSCAR GOES TO...
astronaut, read a statement from Farhadi. “I’m sorry I’m not with you tonight,” it read.
“My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and those of other six nations who have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the U.S.”
There are several Muslim-majority countries where Mahershala Ali’s Oscar win for his role in Moonlight won’t be celebrated. That’s because he belongs to the minority Ahmadi sect.
In countries such as Pakistan, Best Picture: Moonlight Best Actor: Casey Affleck for Manchester by the Sea
Best Actress: Emma Stone for La La Land
Best Director: Damien Chazelle for La La Land
Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali for Moonlight Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis for Fences
Best Original Screenplay: Manchester by the Sea Ahmadis are reviled by hardline Sunni Muslim groups as heretics, apostates and even infidels.
So much so that Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan’s envoy to the United Nations, deleted a tweet on Monday that noted Ali was the first Muslim actor to win an Academy Award. The tweet, Best Adapted Screenplay: Moonlight
Best Animated Film: Zootopia
Best Foreign Language Film: The Salesman, Iran
Best Documentary Film (feature): OJ: Made in America Best Documentary Film (short): The White Helmets Best Original Song: City of Stars — La La Land (Music by Justin Hurwitz, Lyrics by Benji Pasek and Justin Paul) however, was spotted by eagle eyed Twitter users who saved screen grabs. Ali, who was born a Christian, converted to Islam in his final year at graduate school after the woman who would become his wife, Amatus Karim, invited him to an Ahmadi mosque.