Last year’s Academy Awards was scaled-back, and while the pandemic isn’t over yet, you wouldn’t know it from how this year’s Oscars ceremony was put together along with serving alcohol to maskless celebrities, which might have been a poor choice in the wake of the BAFTAs turning into a super-spreader event. Then again, COVID-19 won’t likely end up being the most talked-about aspect of the awards.
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Highlights from the winner speeches include Jessica Chastain taking the Best Actress statue for “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” and spending her acceptance speech calling out the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. After slapping comedian Chris Rock for making a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith (aka the slap heard around the world), a tearful Will Smith took the stage for winning Best Actor and apologized to his fellow nominees, and Venus and Serena Williams for derailing their hopeful empowering message, however, not to Rock.
The Best Supporting Actor/Actress awards made history by Troy Kotsur, a deaf actor, winning for “CODA,” and Ariana DeBose from “West Side Story” became the first Afro-Latina and first openly queer woman of color to succeed in the acting category. Both inspiring speeches mentioned the barriers that were broken with their wins and hopefully will open the door for more historic victories in the future.
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Other significant awards were Jane Campion nabbing Best Director for the Netflix western “Power of The Dog,” reiterating her passion for cinema, and Apple TV+’s “CODA” landed the Best Picture making it the first streaming film to win the prestigious award. Watch all the winner’s acceptance speeches below and tell us which you thought were the best ones.