Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images

Matthew A. Cherry became the second former athlete to win an Academy Award Sunday for best animated short.

Cherry, a former NFL player," and Karen Rupert Toliver won for "Hair Love." The animated short began as a Kickstarter project and has gone on to become critically acclaimed.

During their acceptance speeches, Rupert Toliver said "we have a firm belief that representation matters" especially when it comes to animation.

"We wanted to normalize back hair," Cherry said before he advocated for The Crown Act, which would ban discrimination nationwide against people because of their hair.

The pair brought Deandre Arnold, an 18 year old senior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas, and his mother as their special guests to the awards show.

Arnold was told he needed to cut his dreadlocks to comply with his school's dress code or he would not be allowed to participate in the graduation ceremony.

Cherry also paid tribute to the late Kobe Bryant who became the first former profession athlete to take home the award when he won in 2018 for Best Animated Short for "Dear Basketball," which was based on a poem he wrote.