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Highlights Of The 2017 Academy Awards

"Black people saved NASA and white people saved jazz. That’s what I call progress." - Jimmy Kimmel

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Highlights Of The 2017 Academy Awards
The Oscars

It's the biggest night of the year for entertainment, and the most glamorous for our favorite A-Listers. We saw the perfection that is Chrissy Teigen and John Legend, witnessed the racial barrier in entertainment continue to fall, and watched in awe as we received some of the famous "surprises" we were promised. Join me as we re-live some of the most famed moments of the 2017 Academy Awards.


Justin Timberlake Opens.

After some exciting Red Carpet interviews, the adorable Justin Timberlake opened the show with a remix of his well-known song, "Can't Stop the Feeling" from the animated film, Trolls which premiered last year.

However, the opening act may have been kept under raps - until Robin Roberts (news anchor for Good Morning America) let it slip - or appeared to have let it slip? It remains unclear.

Whatever the situation may be, it was very awkward between the two of them.

Jimmy Kimmel was, well... Jimmy Kimmel.

In a monologues that only Kimmel could get away with, he mercilessly poked fun at Donald Trump, Matt Damon, and even the beloved Meryl Streep.

We all saw the Donald Trump digs coming, let's be honest.

He went after the President, hilariously commentating on his late-night twitter habits and even tweeting the President himself, typing "U up" and "#MerylSaysHi".

He then went after the precious and pure Meryl Streep herself, calling her "overrated" and "mediocre". All was in good fun, of course, and Meryl, being the wonderful woman she is, took it with grace - laughing it off and having fun with it. Kimmel then gave her the recognition she so deserved, seeing as Sunday night marked her 20th Oscar Nomination. The entire theater gave her a standing ovation and it was truly an amazing sight.

In true Kimmel fashion, he continued to drag Matt Damon in their hilarious spoof feud. He teased him in front of the whole audience, had him announced as "guest" when he presented, and then conducted the orchestra as they played him off during his presentation. On such a stress-filled night, it was nice to see some celebrities relax and just have fun.


Viola Davis was Perfection in Human Form

Viola Davis finally took home her Oscar, and she did it exactly the way you'd think she would: with grace and elegance. However, this amazing, talented woman just made history.

She is officially the first black woman to win an Oscar, Emmy, and a Tony - all for acting.

Let's just take a moment and let that sink in... Way to kick ass, Viola! You're truly an inspiration!

Mahershala Ali

This kid came out of nowhere, and I love him. I'm gonna be honest, I haven't seen Moonlight, but after winning Best Picture (wayyy more on that later), and Ali winning his Best Supporting Actor for his performance, I'm going to have to check it out.

I'm super proud of Ali winning an Oscar at a young age for a movie that wasn't as well known is an absolutely amazing accomplishment! I can't wait to see what he does next.

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Auli'l Cravahlo Performance

What a gift. I had heard rumors that Miranda was going to perform, but I had no idea Cravahlo (the voice of Disney's newest princess, Moana) was going to steal the show. Her performance was so incredible, people were comparing it to Beyonce's Grammy performance earlier this year.

Even with the mishap of a flag grazing her hair (super close call), she still pulled it together and absolutely nailed it. Her performance was flawless, and she is an adorable and supremely talented human being.

Casey Affleck in his Entirety

Casey Affleck won Best Actor for his work in Manchester by the Sea, and there were some serious conflicting feelings. A lot of people still haven't forgotten the sexual harassment allegations in 2010.

In fact, Brie Larson (the actress who won Best Actress the previous year for portraying a sexual assault victim) refused to clap when she presented him with the reward.

Her melancholy reaction made the way she felt about the situation painfully obvious. However, she kept her composure and grace while Affleck had his moment.

EMMA. FREAKIN. STONE.

This girl has been my favorite actress since Zombieland and watching her finally win an Oscar (and an SAG award, and a Golden Globe) was like an out-of-body experience.

Words can't explain how happy I am for her, and I'm thrilled the world is finally starting to recognize just how talented she is. I'm not usually a crier, but I bawled like a baby.

She was up against absurdly talented and equally deserving actresses such as: Meryl Streep, Natalie Portman, Ruth Negga, and the beautiful Isabelle Huppert, which only makes the win even more impressive and amazing.

I have never seen anything like La La Land, and the entire cast and crew were talented beyond belief. There is no doubt the world won't forget Stone's win anytime soon.

Reaction to Stone's Oscar Win

These reactions were so cute, they deserved their own category. Brie Larson, Adele, and Meryl Streep were just beyond themselves and honestly, it just made the whole situation even better, which I wasn't sure was even possible.

Here's Larson, hugging and crying with Stone right after her speech. I'm not crying. I swear.

And Adele being Adele:

And if these two weren't cute enough, Meryl Streep erupted in applause and a giant smile when Stone's name was announced. I'm honestly not sure what we have done to deserve such amazing women.

Major Memoriam Mishap

During the Oscar's Memoriam, they showed of picture of Jan Chapman, an Australian film producer who is very much alive, next to the name of Janet Patterson, an Australian costume designer who passed away last year. Chapman was understandably upset, as the two were friends.

However, she wasn't the only one.

A lot of fans weren't happy with the seemingly careless mistake and voiced their strong opinions all over social media. Fingers crossed there's an acceptable explanation... Everyone deserves to be recognized (and not mistaken for others).

La La Land Wins Best Pict- Wait, lol jk. Moonlight Wins Best Picture

What. A. Moment. This incredible mix-up will go down in Oscar's history, and everyone still seems kinda confused.

People jumped to blame DiCaprio (who presented Stone with the Best Actress award), and just assumed he set the card down or misplaced it, and it somehow ended up with Warren Beatty, who presented Best Picture. Beatty saw Stone's name, followed by "La La Land" and just assumed the film had won.

Unfortunately, it was another (or the same?) card for Best Actress, and Moonlight was the actual winner. DiCaprio claims he gave the card directly to Stone, saying that she'd want to keep it. Stone later backed him up, saying that she had the card with her the whole time.

I suppose it's plausible that they would print multiple copies of the announcement cards, but I feel like that's just asking for something like this to happen. More details have continuously come to light, so maybe we'll eventually find out what happened.


The Academy Awards are always a huge night, but Sunday brought on moments that the world will never forget. A huge "Congrats!" to the winners and nominees! I can't wait to see what next year brings to the world of entertainment.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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