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89th Annual Academy Awards - Show

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Everybody remembers comic Steve Harvey’s colossal blunder at the Miss Universe Pageant last year when he announced the wrong winner. After the huge, historic boo-boo (Let’s call it a “Harvey!”) at the 89th Academy Awards this year, ol’ Steve has to take a back seat to Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway! SOMEBODY gave them the wrong envelope or something for the Best Picture winner and Faye announced that “La La Land” had won! Oops! Ironically, La La Land’s producer Jordan Horowitz was the one who had to stop the thank you speeches and announce that there had been a mistake after he was informed of the error by host Jimmy Kimmel. The real Best Picture winner? “Moonlight” a film with a mostly Black cast, with a adapted screenplay written by two Black screenwriters; Barry Jenkins, who also produced the film, and Tarell Alvin McCraney. Jenkins, once he got to the microphone, said, “Even in my dreams this cannot be true!” Gasps were heard throughout the Dolby Theatre as the casts of both pictures mingled on stage, exchanging hadshakes and hugs, in a great show of artistic camaraderie and respect as Moonlight’s producer accepted the award.

ABC's Coverage Of The 89th Annual Academy Awards

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Oscars So White? Not this year! In total 5 Oscars were won were won by Blacks, the most ever! Moonlight also won Oscars for the writers for Best Adapted Screenplay, and for Mahershala Ali, who won Best Supporting Actor, as did Viola Davis, who won for “Fences.”

89th Annual Academy Awards - Press Room

Source: Frazer Harrison / Getty

89th Annual Academy Awards - Press Room

Source: Jason LaVeris / Getty

O.J. Made In America producer Ezra Edelman won the Academy Award for Best Documentary, shared with Caroline Waterlow. All this is after AMPAS President Cheryl Boone Isaacs led a campaign to bring more diversity to the Oscars. It must be working, becasue four of the Academy’s 2017 nominees for best picture revolved around characters of color; Garth Davis’ Lion, Theodore Melfi’s Hidden Figures, Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, and Washington’s Fences. Now that’s more like it!

by Jerry Wells, from articles on ew.com, krem.com and http://boston.cbslocal.com/

 

 

 

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