After more than three and a half hours of pure entertainment, Sean Penn made a weird joke about immigration as he announced the big winner of the night: 'Birdman', starring Michael Keaton, got the Oscar for Best Picture. "Who gave this son of a bitch his green card?", Sean Penn asked, before giving the Oscar to Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu.
The two are friends, it seems, and it was more of a private joke. Iñárritu ended up sweeping award after award at the 87th Academy Awards on Sunday, with 'Birdman' getting four Oscars in the most important categories - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography.
It wasn't really a surprise: 'Birdman' was the frontrunner. The other big winner of the night in number of Oscars, albeit in less shiny categories, was 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'. The movie directed by Wes Anderson also got four Oscars: Costume Design, Original Score, Production Design and Makeup and Hairstyling.
Also unsurprisingly, Julianne Moore finally won her first Oscar for Best Actress, following earlier accolades for her role in 'Still Alice'. It took her five nominations to get the Academy's recognition. Best Actor award went to Eddie Redmayne for his role in 'The Theory of Everything', beating Michael Keaton in 'Birdman'. His acceptance speech was actually one of the funniest of the evening.
And that's because this was a very special Oscars' edition when it came down to the winners' speeches.
Patricia Arquette, who won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for 'Boyhood', set the tone. She used her stage time to call for action and demand fair pay to women. "To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else's equal rights," Arquette said, wearing her glasses and holding a piece of paper.
"It's our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America." Her speech raised everyone from their seats at the Dolby Theater and Meryl Streep had one of the more enthusiastic responses: "YES! YES! YES!", the iconic actress shouted, pointing her finger.
Graham Moore, who won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay with 'The imitation game', also took his time on the spotlight to raise awareness about suicide.
He confessed to attempting to commit suicide when he was 16 and conveyed a message of hope and strength to all of the young people who feel they don't belong. "Stay different, stay weird", he said, very moved and emotional.
John Legend and Common also used their time after winning the Oscar for Best Song, with Selma's "Glory", to express a political message. Legend said the Voting Rights Act is being challenged and spoke up about the number of black inmates in the United States.
The losers of the night were 'American Sniper', which only got the Oscar for Best Sound Editing, 'The Imitation Game' and 'Boyhood'. There was no selfie this time, but host Neil Patrick Harris did do something outrageous: he showed up on stage mid-show wearing nothing but his underwear.
