Here’s the thing, I don’t care who won the Academy Award for Best Cinematographer, and I really don’t care what designer Jennifer Lawrence wore on the red carpet. However, Leonardo DiCaprio won the Academy Award for Best Actor, in case you didn’t know, and I care about that.
One shining moment during the 2016 Academy Award ceremony has created countless memes and one-liners for this long-awaited, overdue award for DiCaprio. After receiving the Oscar, I half expected him to make a joking remark about the, what some would call, pinnacle of his career. He deserved to snidely address the previous awards he missed. Instead, he humbly thanked the Academy and the crowd for this honor and chose to use his moment to address more a serious matter. Climate change.
“I just want to say this – making “The Revenant” was about man’s relationship to the natural world, a world that we collectively felt in 2015 as the hottest year in recorded history,” said DiCaprio during his acceptance speech.
DiCaprio wasn’t the only celebrity who decided to use the Academy Award ceremony as a political platform.
Chris Rock, who hosted the Academy Award ceremony for 2016, addressed the lack of diversity among Oscar nominees. During his opening monologue, Rock makes scathing remarks about the racial sameness represented in Hollywood. Throughout the opening speech, Rock crafted pointed remarks about the controversial issue surrounding the event and continued to drive in his point throughout the ceremony. Rock’s opening monologue and interspersed appearances set the stage for others to deliver well-crafted comments concerning the lack of diversity in Hollywood.
Kevin Hart, accompanying Rock on stage during the event, gave his opinions on the lack of diversity while encouraging those who went unnoticed and unrecognized.
“I want to applaud all of the actors and actresses of color that didn’t get nominated tonight,” said Hart.
While DiCaprio and Rock stole most of the limelight, “Mad Max:Fury Road” received six Oscars, but no one cares. Leo got his Oscar, and that’s what is important.
