Joaquin Phoenix Wins Oscar for Best Actor and Delivers Memorable Acceptance Speech
Joaquin Phoenix won the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of Batman villain Joker last night at the 92nd Academy Awards. In true Joker fashion, he delivered one memorable acceptance speech, touching on topics such as human rights, artificial animal insemination, and more.
Phoenix dove straight into the issues at hand. “I think whether we’re talking about gender and equality, or racism, or queer rights, or indigenous rights, or animal rights, we’re talking about the fight against injustice,” he stated. “We’re talking about the fight against the belief that one people, one race, one gender, one species has the right to dominate, control, use, and exploit another with impunity.”
His speech then took a turn towards the unusual when discussing humanities connection to the world. “We go into the natural world and plunder it of its resources.” He continued, “We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and then steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable.”
Phoenix then closed his speech with “Run to the rescue with love, and peace will follow”, a touching quote from his late brother, River Phoenix.
Seeing as Joker itself addressed important societal issues, it makes sense Phoenix would continue to touch on these issues here. There’s no denying the incredible role he played in the movie and it was well-deserving of this award.