Joaquin Phoenix accepted the Oscar for Best Actor at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood Sunday, marking the second time an actor has won an Academy Award for playing the Joker following the late Heath Ledger’s win in 2009.

The actor, 45, spoke in depth about “the distressing issues we’re facing” including gender equality, racism, animal rights and environmental issues. Phoenix revealed during an interview that he has been vegan since he was 4 years old, something he decided with his late brother, River Phoenix.

“I think that we’ve become very disconnected from the natural world, and many of us, what we’re guilty of is an egocentric worldview, the belief that we’re the center of the universe,” he said. “We go into the natural world and we plunder it for its resources. We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and when she gives birth, we steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. And then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf and we put it in our coffee and our cereal.”

Phoenix was instrumental in the Golden Globes ceremony going vegan this year, an issue he and his partner, Rooney Mara, champion, Page Six reported.

The “Joker” actor began his speech by calling out fellow nominees and all those in attendance at the ceremony for their work in Hollywood.

“I’m full of so much gratitude right now. And I do not feel elevated above any of my fellow nominees or anyone in this room because we share the same love, the love of film, and this form of expression has given me the most extraordinary life,” he said. “I don’t know what I’d be without it. But I think the greatest gift that it’s given me, and many of us in this room, is the opportunity to use our voice for the voiceless.”

He also addressed speculation about his past, including his reputation as being difficult to work with.

“I have been a scoundrel in my life,” he said. “I’ve been selfish, I’ve been cruel at times, hard to work with, and I’m grateful that so many of you in this room have given me a second chance. And I think that’s when we’re at our best, when we support each other, not when we cancel each other out for past mistakes, but when we help each other to grow, when we educate each other, when we guide each other toward redemption.”

The actor finished his speech by mentioning his late brother, River, who died in 1993 when he was just 23 due to combined drug intoxication. “When he was 17, my brother wrote this lyric, he said: ‘Run to the rescue with love and peace will follow.'”

Phoenix scored the big win over nominees Antonio Banderas (“Pain and Glory”), Leonardo DiCaprio (“Once Upon a Time in . . . Hollywood”), Adam Driver (“Marriage Story”) and Jonathan Pryce (“The Two Popes”).

Phoenix completely swept the 2020 awards season — scoring wins for best actor in a motion picture, drama at the Golden Globes, outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role at the SAG Awards, leading actor at the BAFTAs and best actor at the Critics’ Choice Awards — for his disturbing portrayal of Arthur Fleck as he descends into madness and becomes a supervillain. The film also scored 11 Oscar nominations in total — the most ever for a comic-book superhero flick in the history of the Academy Awards.

The first-ever R-rated film to net $1 billion at the box office, “Joker” is more than just a sensation in theaters. The film was shrouded in controversy from start to finish, from fears of violence breaking out in theaters (perhaps inspired by the anarchy seen in the film) to backlash over a song choice in the movie — known pedophile Gary Glitter’s 1972 hit “Rock and Roll Part 2.”

Controversial himself, Phoenix spent most of the awards season calling out the lack of diversity in Hollywood. At the BAFTAs, the actor delivered a heartfelt speech about feeling “conflicted” about his own win, given that actors and actresses of color were not nominated.

“So many of my fellow actors that are deserving don’t have that same privilege,” he said. “I think that we send a very clear message to people of color that you’re not welcome here. I think that’s the message that we’re sending to people that have contributed so much to our medium and our industry, and in ways that we benefit from.”

He continued: “This is not a self-righteous condemnation, because I’m ashamed to say that I’m part of the problem.”

He went on to say that he could do more to ensure that the sets he works on are “inclusive,” and that Hollywood as a whole needs to do more.

“We have to do the hard work to truly understand systemic racism. I think it is the obligation of the people that have created and perpetuate and benefit from a system of oppression to be the ones that dismantle it,” he said. “So that’s on us.”