2016 Academy Awards

Olivia Lee, staff writer

Taking place on February 28, 2016 at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, California was the 88th Academy Awards presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).  This annual event honored the best films of 2015.  Throughout the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards, or Oscars, in 24 different categories.  The show was hosted for the second time by actor Chris Rock.

Taking home the most awards of the night was Mad Max: Fury Road with six awards.  Then there was The Revenant with three awards and Spotlight with two.  Other award winners included A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, Amy, Bear Story, The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, The Danish Girl, Ex Machina, The Hateful Eight, Inside Out, Room, Son of Saul, Spectre, and Stutterer with one award each.  Leonardo DiCaprio also won Best Actor for The Revenant and Brie Larson won Best Actress for Room.

However, many were upset with the Academy Awards this year due to the 2016 nominees.  For the second year in a row, among all of the Academy Award nominees, there were only white actors and actresses.  This resulted in a huge uproar as people began to boycott the Oscars.  This reaction led to the trending hashtag #OscarSoWhite.  The show’s host, Chris Rock (an African American), held several interviews on air with other black Americans asking their opinion on the situation.  He agreed with the public that Hollywood is indeed racist.