Spike Lee savours the moment

“Do not turn the motherfucking clock on” said Spike Lee – flouting the organisers’ 90-second time limit to talk about how it is 400 years since “our ancestors were stolen from Mother Africa and bought to Jamestown, Virginia, enslaved”.

He spoke of how his grandmother became “a Spelman College graduate even though her mother was a slave” and saved “50 years of social security checks to put her first grandchild – she called me Spikie-poo – through Morehouse College and NYU grad film.”

Spike Lee implores US to regain its humanity during Oscars speech Read more

Lee also paid tribute to his friend Prince by wearing a purple suit and a specially made necklace in the shape of the symbol that the singer used as his identity. Prince can be heard singing Mary Don’t You Weep over the credits of BlacKkKlansman, a film that ends with footage from the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.

On the red carpet before the ceremony, Lee said his nomination as best director was overdue. Although he didn’t secure the award, his joy was clear to see, leaping into the arms of Samuel L Jackson, who was presenting him with his award for best adapted screenplay.

Lee’s speech finished with a rallying cry: “The 2020 presidential election is around the corner. Let’s all mobilise. Let’s all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate.”

“Let’s do the right thing!” he added, in a reference to his 30-year-old breakthrough movie. “You know I had to get that in there.”

New ground for African American women

It was 2015 when April Reign tweeted the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite and it first gained traction on social media – and since then the Academy has made some attempts to address the diversity within its nominations. With Black Panther picking up awards this time around, the 2019 Oscars saw African Americans who work behind the scenes picking up awards for the first time in decades.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ruth E Carter accepts the award for best costume design for Black Panther. Photograph: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Ruth E Carter became the first African American woman to win for costume design, saying: “Wow, this has been a long time coming.” She went on to say: “Marvel may have made the first black superhero, but through costume design we turned him into an African king.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Hannah Beachler. Photograph: Eric Jamison/Invision/AP

Her colleague Hannah Beachler went on to make history as the first African American woman to win for production design. After praising people who worked on the film with her and her family for giving her strength, she concluded: “I give this strength to all of those who come next to keep going and to never give up, and when you think it’s impossible just remember this piece of advice I got from a very wise woman: I did my best, and my best is good enough.”

A sprinkling of politics

Without a single host, plenty of people used their brief time on stage to make political points. Immigration was a recurring theme, with best actor winner Rami Malek proudly stating that he was a first-generation American. Alfonso Cuarón, the Mexican film-maker who won best director for Roma, said: “I want to thank the Academy for recognising a film centred around an indigenous woman, one of the 70 million domestic workers in the world without work rights. A character who has historically been relegated to the background in cinema. As artists, our job is to look where others don’t. This responsibility becomes much more important in times where we are being encouraged to look away.”

Oscars save shocks for last with big wins for Green Book and Olivia Colman Read more

Barbra Streisand pointedly praised BlacKkKlansman “because it was based on the truth, and truth is especially precious these days”. And in a section introducing the nomination of Green Book for best picture, 79-year-old congressman John Lewis spoke of his experiences in the civil rights movement and the scars of racial segregation in the US, saying: “I can bear witness to the portrait of that time and place in our history. It’s very real.”

There were more allusions to Trump. Keegan-Michael Key descended from the ceiling carrying an Mary Poppins-style umbrella, then discarded it in apparent mockery to Trump dumping his on the steps of Air Force One.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Keegan-Michael Key in Mary Poppins mode. Photograph: Craig Sjodin/ABC via Getty Images

Green Book’s win stirs controversy

Green Book was a surprise winner, and not universally popular. While it tackles race issues in the US, it has been criticised for employing a “white saviour” narrative in the way it depicts the relationship between Don Shirley and Tony Vallelonga, the portrayal of which has also been disputed by Shirley’s family.

Behind the scenes, there has also been controversy. Writer and producer Nick Vallelonga apologised for a tweet from 2015 that showed him supporting Donald Trump’s claim that Muslims in the US celebrated 9/11. Viggo Mortensen was forced to apologise after using the N-word at a screening of the film, and director Peter Farrelly apologised for past sexual misconduct.

Spike Lee was visibly angry during the ceremony when Green Book’s win was announced, and away from the venue, many social media commenters did not take kindly to the award dedicated at the end to the late Carrie Fisher.

roxane gay (@rgay) May Carrie Fisher smite all of them from above.

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper induce online swoon

Social media has been rife with speculation about the nature of Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s relationship since they starred opposite each other in A Star Is Born, and with Lady Gaga recently announcing the end of her engagement. Their Oscars performance, which ended with them sitting intimately close at a piano, did nothing to dispel those rumours.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper gave an intensely intimate performance of the winning song. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters

Shallow went on to win best original song, adding to the Grammy and Golden Globe it has won. In her acceptance speech, an emotional Lady Gaga said she got where she was by hard work. “If you’re at home, and you are sitting on your couch, all I have to say is this is about hard work. I worked hard for a long time. It’s not about winning, it’s about not giving up. If you have a dream, fight for it. It’s not about how many times you get rejected, it’s about how many times you are brave and get up.”

Olivia Colman sees the funny side

British actor Olivia Colman opened her acceptance speech saying: “It’s genuinely quite stressful”, pausing, then adding: “This is hilarious. An Oscar. OK. I’d like to thank a lot of people, but if I forget people I’m going to find you later and give you a massive snog.”

To her children watching at home, she said: “This is never going to happen again.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Olivia Colman accepts the Best Actress award for her role in The Favourite. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters

Colman was not the favourite to triumph in the best actress category, with strong competition from Glenn Close and Lady Gaga, and on stage she apologised to Close, saying: “You’ve been my idol for so long and this is not how I wanted it to be.”

Colman, who made her name in TV comedy before landing her award-winning role in The Favourite, was about to talk about how she had been a cleaner when she was told to wrap her speech up. That caused her to blow a raspberry as she hastily ended one of the few Oscar speeches you’d have liked to have heard more of.