It seems that not all was fun and games at the BAFTA awards this Sunday, as actor Joaquin Pheonix was one of many people in the last couple of years to call out racism in Hollywood.
The last couple of years, heck, people have been doing it for the last couple of weeks!
He delivered an amazing performance, whether you enjoyed the film or not.
Since then, he has been accepting basically every award he has been nominated for.
He took the time to focus not so much on himself and Joker, but rather the growing issue that is climate change.
"First, I’d like to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press, um, for recognizing and acknowledging the link between animal agriculture and climate change."
Then, he continued by calling out everything celebs do with their money (like taking private jets) when they should worry about climate change.
He urged people to do more for the world, and for their families, and for Australia, which was up in flames at the time.
In fact, Jane Fonda has been arrested a few times because she's been at a number of climate change protests!
It's been called out for years now, especially with the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite.
The subject? Racism.
Celebs have included it in their acceptance speeches, they have demanded better in interviews, and have written long social media posts about it.
Ricky Gervais made a comment about the lack of diversity in his now infamous speech at the Golden Globes, and there have been countless others commenting on the subject for years now.
Joaquin Pheonix was awarded the BAFTA for Leading Actor on February 2nd, but his speech wasn't about giving thanks.
In fact, a lot of it had to do with the lack of acceptance and diversity in Hollywood.
People are rallying behind him (but of course, some people are haters and think he shouldn't have said anything at all).
"I think that’s the message that we’re sending to people that have contributed so much to our medium and our industry and in ways that we benefit from."
"I think people want to be appreciated and respected for their work."
"I think that we really have to do the hard work to truly understand systemic racism."
He is obviously making sure that his speeches are going to go down in history!
What do you think of Joaquin's comments? Let us know below in the comments!
