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 The live telecast, which ran for nearly four hours, built on the
socially conscious thrust that has marked Oscar night during the
past few years, transforming the 90th edition of the glittering
awards show into a conversation about sexual politics and
inclusion.
In his opening monologue, Kimmel skewered the class of powerful
men who prayed on women with a sight gag focused on a
larger-than-life Oscar statue on stage, noting the male
sculpture's anatomically simplified lack of genitalia.
"He is literally a statue of limitations. And that’s the kind of
man we need more of in this town," he said, drawing uproarious
laughter from the Dolby Theatre's audience of film luminaries.
The joke helped break the looming tension from a torrent of
sexual misconduct allegations that have roiled the film industry
since legions of mostly female victims broke their silence in
recent months to shed light on long-cloaked abuses of power and
gender bias.
Kimmel also called out Harvey Weinstein, the onetime Hollywood
titan whose fall from grace helped give rise to the #MeToo
social media movement, which galvanized accusers of privileged
men in media, politics and other walks of American life, and the
Time's Up campaign for greater equality.
Weinstein, who has denied ever having nonconsensual sex with
anyone, was expelled last year from the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences after dozens of women accused him of a
range of sexual misbehavior, including rape.
"There were a lot of great nominees, but Harvey deserved it the
most," Kimmel said of the expulsion.
Kimmel also addressed the widely reported disparity in pay
received by actor Mark Wahlberg and actress Michelle Williams
for reshooting scenes in the kidnapping drama "All the Money in
the World," but he drew laughs by making Hollywood agents the
butt of his joke. Both performers were represented by the same
agent, he noted, adding, "if we can't trust agents, who can we
trust?"
That gag, like the tone of the show's social commentary as a
whole, felt more restrained than the pointed, angry jabs about
gender bias and sexual peccadilloes that marked much of the
Golden Globes telecast in January.
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The centerpiece for Oscar recognition of activism came midway
through the show, as three actresses who were among Weinstein's
accusers - Annabella Sciorra, Ashley Judd and Salma Hayek -
introduced a montage of film clips and celebrity interviews paying
tribute to diversity of all kinds.
The segment saluted breakthroughs of women and people of color
behind and in front of the camera, citing the critical and
commercial success of such works as the blockbuster Marvel superhero
film "Black Panther," featuring a predominantly African-American
cast.
Kumail Nanjiani, the Pakistani-American star and co-writer of
popular comedy "The Big Sick," urged filmmakers in one taped message
to strive for greater inclusion not just because doing so was the
right thing to do.
“Do it because you get rich,” he added.
In a similar vein, rap artist Common and singer Andra Day brought
the leaders of various activist movements, including #MeToo and
Black Lives Matter, onstage for a performance of the Oscar-nominated
song "Stand Up for Something."
But in an apparent nod to some more conservative TV viewers, the
ceremony also honored men and women of the U.S. military with a
medley of Hollywood war film highlights introduced by Native
American actor Wes Studi, a Vietnam War veteran who has appeared in
several Oscar-nominated films.
The night ended on an emotional high as Frances McDormand, the
night's best actress winner for "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing,
Missouri," capped her acceptance speech by asking all the women in
the hall who had been Oscar-nominated to stand, drawing rousing
applause.
Mexican director Guillermo del Toro then used his speech to accept
the best picture award for "The Shape of Water," a romantic fable
about society's treatment of outcasts, by inviting young filmmakers
to kick open the door of the film industry and "come in."
(Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Peter Henderson and Jonathan
Oatis)
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