I’m not gonna lie; hosting an Oscar night viewing party was pretty weird last night. Thank you Will Smith and Chris Rock! But overall I enjoyed last night’s show more than expected, we had a great group of film fans at our event who returned after a couple of years away, and there were plenty of great, even historic moments to be had during the telecast. It’s just unfortunate so much of it will be lost because of #TheSlap.
For instance, Questlove has reason to be pissed. Chris Rock was up there to announce Best Documentary, and Questlove’s beautiful Summer of Soul won the Oscar. He went on to give a heartfelt speech that nobody was paying attention to because of the Smith/Rock altercation that preceded it. I hope Questlove gets all the time in the world to tell his story and pump up his movie because he and it deserve that.
So I’ll do my bit here to help by posting Questlove’s acceptance speech, along with the speeches from all of the other winners. That includes Jessica Chastain who used her time to speak about anti-LGBTQ legislationa, plus the history-making Supporting categories where deaf actor Troy Kotsur and the first openly queer and Afro-Latina actress Ariana DeBose got their moment in the spotlight.
Unfortunately, it also means Will Smith’s awkward, rambling, b.s., cry-on-cue speech about being a protector of women (???) after his Best Actor victory for King Richard.
Take ’em all in, folks. Including my personal favorite, Cruella costume designer Jenny Beavan who rocked Cruella-inspired gear and hair, while giving a speech that was a little off the beaten path and I loved it.
