Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel thanked Donald Trump for making the event appear less racist as he opened the 89th Academy Awards.

The talk show host said he knew the country was divided and he had been encouraged to say something that would unite people.

He said the ceremony was being watched around the world by "countries that now hate us" adding: "The country is divided right now, I've been been getting advice that I need to say something to unite us.

"Let me say something. I can't do that. There is only one Braveheart in this room and he's not going to do that either."

He added: "I want to say thank you to President Trump. Remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist? It's gone!"


Image: Kimmel has a dig at the President

Kimmel pointedly led a standing ovation for actress Meryl Streep who criticised Mr Trump's impression of a disabled reporter during his campaign for the presidency, saying it "kind of broke my heart" in her Golden Globes acceptance speech last month.

He also tweeted the president live on air, telling the audience: "We're more than two hours into the show and Donald Trump hasn't tweeted at us once and I'm starting to get worried about him."

He then tweeted the commander-in-chief: "U up?" before adding: "#Merylsayshi."

Viola Davis speaks about Fences at the BAFTAs

Moonlight beat La La Land to claim the coveted best picture Oscar, following an embarrassing mix-up which saw Damien Chazelle's musical erroneously announced as the winner.

After the shock blunder, Moonlight's director Barry Jenkins said: "Very clearly even in my dreams this can't be true. But to hell with it because this is true. It's true, it's not fake."

Paying tribute to the team behind La La Land, he said: "We have been on the road with these guys and it was so gracious and so generous of them."

But Chazelle, 32, didn't leave disappointed - he became the youngest winner of the best director gong.

Emma Stone won best actress for La La Land and Casey Affleck got best actor for Manchester By The Sea.

Viola Davis won her first Oscar for her supporting role as a long-suffering housewife in the African-American family drama Fences.

"I became an artist, and thank God I did, because we are the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life," an emotional Davis said.

Image: Who graced the red carpet at the 89th Academy Awards? Here's Leslie Mann Image: Kelly Ripa Image: Felicity Jones Image: Kirsten Dunst Image: Cynthia Eriv Image: Isabelle Huppert, who's up for best actress Image: Hailee Steinfeld Image: Jackie Chan Image: Model Chrissy Teigen arrives with husband, singer John Legend Image: Directors Martin Butler (l) and Bentley Dean (r) with cast members from Australia's best foreign language film nominee Tanna /

Mahershala Ali won best supporting actor for Moonlight.

The Salesman, directed by Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, who boycotted the ceremony because of Mr Trump's travel ban, won the foreign language film.

In a statement read on his behalf, Farhadi, whose film A Separation won the same prize in 2012, said it was a "great honour" to receive the prize for a second time.

He added: "I'm sorry I'm not with you tonight, my absence is out of respect for the people of my country and the other six nations who have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the US.

"Dividing the world into the us and the enemy categories creates fear, justification for war."