The Most Political Oscars Ever

I mentioned that my faithful tradition of watching the Oscars might be coming to an end. I think this year's over-the-top political grandstanding is the last straw.

At the Irish Independent, "From racism to rape to climate change - was this the most political Oscars ever?":

Probably the most political #Oscars ever.

— Warner Todd Huston (@warnerthuston) February 29, 2016

Chris Rock set the tone with his opening monologue which tore the Academy apart over the #OscarsSoWhite controversy.

"Welcome to the Academy Awards, otherwise known as the white people's choice awards!" he began, before tackling racism, "Is Hollywood racist? You're damn right it's racist! Hollywood is sorority racist - We like you Rhonda, but you're not a Kappa!"
However, he spoke out against the boycott.

"Why are we protesting this Oscars? It's the 88th Academy Awards, which means this whole 'no black nominees' thing has happened at least 71 other times."

He said black people didn't protest before because they had "real things to protest at the time. They were too busy being raped and lynched to care about who wins best cinematographer."

And so it continued as Rock, who admitted he had completely re-written his monologue in the wake of the diversity controversy, performed a autopsy on the elephant in the room.

Elsewhere, Vice President Joe Biden and Lady Gaga united to promote White House campaign It's On Us, which aims to eradicate sexual assaults on US university campuses.

Biden introduced Lady Gaga for her haunting performance of Till It Happens to You, which was nominated for Best Original Song.

"Despite significant progress over the last couple years, too many women and men are still victims of sexual abuse," he said.

"Let's change the culture so that no abused woman or man ever feels they have to ask themselves, 'What did I do?'.  They did nothing wrong."

Gaga's song features on the soundtrack for the 2015 documentary The Hunting Ground which documents alleged incidents of abuse on American college campuses.

For her performance Gaga was joined on stage by survivors of sexual assault.

The winners' speeches provided the perfect opportunity for stars to have their say and Leonardo DiCaprio harnessed his 60 seconds following his first ever Oscar win to highlight the issue of climate change.

"Making The Revenant was about man's relationship to the natural world. Climate change is real, it is happening right now," he said...

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