Political speeches were made at the 2019 Oscar show, even if President Trump was not mentioned explicitly or directly.
Jose Andres and Diego Luna, who introduced clips from the best picture nominee Roma, said that the movie “reminds us of the understanding and compassion that we all owe to the invisible people in our lives — immigrants and women — who move humanity forward.”
“There are no borders or walls that can restrain ingenuity and talent,” said Oscar winner Javier Bardem as he presented the best foreign language film Oscar, with his Spanish words translated in English subtitles.
Roma became the first Mexican film to win the honor, and its director, Alfonso Cuaron, won best director.
Cuaron said that Roma “doesn’t exist if not for Mexico.” He then thanked the Academy for recognizing a story that focuses on a domestic worker, “one of the 70 million people around the world without work rights, a character who has been historically relegated to the background.”
Early on, though, Maya Rudolph, presenting along with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, took a dig at the Academy’s foibles and at president Trump. “There’s no host, there won’t be a popular movie category, and Mexico is not paying for the wall.”