Last night Hollywood figures gathered in their fancy clothes to sit uncomfortably in a theatre that was probably too drafty to celebrate the 89th annual Academy Awards. As can be expected, the award show was longer than it should’ve been and contained awkward moments like when “City of Stars” from La La Land won best song over “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana. Also Jimmy Kimmel lifted a small brown child in the air a la Simba from The Lion King because apparently common sense isn’t something white men are born with.
My crew's group chat in response to @jimmykimmel lifting Sunny Pawar from Lion like he the damn lion in Lion King on the #Oscars pic.twitter.com/YXgZQ7I467
— Katori Hall (@KatoriHall) February 27, 2017
There were also some amazing moments. Viola Davis was finally given an Oscar for her fantastic performance in the film adaptation of August Wilson’s Fences. Mahershala Ali became the first Muslim to win an award when he won Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Juan in Moonlight. Our own Queen Trans, Mey Rude, celebrated Zootopia’s win for “Best Animated Feature Film”.
ZOOTOPIA
— Mey Rude (@meyrude) February 27, 2017
But the very best moment, the moment I didn’t know I needed but will fuel me for the next five years, was the moment when Faye Dunaway took Warren Beaty’s confusion as a mistake and announced that La La Land won best picture.
https://twitter.com/BBpapichulo/status/836084501805731841
https://twitter.com/bagginsess/status/836082601584656384
https://twitter.com/theheatherhogan/status/836084410218872832
Apparently, Beaty had the card for Best Featured Actress, which Emma Stone had just won. Because the card had La La Land on it, Dunaway assumed that the film had won Best Picture. When the cast and crew came on stage to accept the award, men in headsets swarmed the stage, and alerted them that “There’s a mistake.” Moonlight had won. (Read a transcription of what went down from the New York Times)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ocyws3oEG3E
Y’all, I got my whole life watching this thing go down. Moonlight is amazing. I openly wept in the theatre while watching it. It has changed the way we look at poor Black folks, Black men and boys, and Black gender-nonconforming people. Black queer folks are seeing themselves in this film in ways that have never happened before!
And like, besides the fact that Moonlight is 200% the movie La La Land could ever be, on a petty note, seeing something undeserved snatched out of white hands felt SO. GOOD. It was the vindication I will never get in my real life. It was #blackexcellence at its finest. I am thrilled for the cast, crew, and creators on their win (plus, imagine the memes we’re gonna get out of this!!).