Oscars 2018: Winners, losers and highlights from Hollywood’s biggest night

JIMMY Kimmel has opened the 90th Academy Awards in Los Angeles with jabs about Harvey Weinistein, sexual harassment — and an explanation for last year’s monumental Best Picture stuff up.

“What happened last year was unfortunate,” he told the audience about the epic mistake which saw Moonlight accidentally awarded the gong instead of winner La La Land. “I’ve not told this story in public. This is true. Last year, about a week before the show, the producers asked me if I wanted to do some comedy with the accountants and I said, ‘Nah, I don’t want to do comedy with the accountants’. So then the accountants went ahead and did comedy on their own.”

But to ensure it doesn’t happen again, the comedian told A-listers: “This year when you hear your name called, don’t get up right away. Give us a minute.”

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As expected, Kimmel addressed the wave of sexual harassment scandals that have flooded Hollywood in the past year. He said there was an important reason why the golden stature of the Oscar is the most trusted male in the industry: “ Just look at him. [He} Keeps his hands where you can see them. Never says a rude word. And most importantly, no penis at all! He is literally a statue of limitations. And that’s the kind of man we need more of in this town.”

Getting the obligatory Mel Gibson gag in, Kimmel joked: “Here’s how clueless Hollywood is about women. We made a film called What Women Want and it starred Mel Gibson.”

This is the first Academy Awards ceremony since Hollywood was rocked with claims of rampant sexual harassment. Since the allegations came to the surface, movements like the Me Too campaign have formed. Kimmel said the 90th ceremony would see a lot of Hollywood’s most powerful figures adding their voice to campaigns.

“The world is watching us. We need to set an example,” he said. “And the truth is if we are successful here, if we can work together to stop sexual harassment in the workplace, if we can do that, women will only have to deal with harassment all the time at every other place they go.”

Kimmel joked about the changing perceptions of women in Hollywood, and how movie executives are finally coming around to backing female-fronted features.

“Black Panther and Wonder Woman were massive hits which is almost miraculous because I remember a time when the major studios didn’t believe a woman or a minority could open a super hero movie,” he said. “And the reason I remember that time was because it was March of last year.”

Australia’s Margot Robbie is nominated for her first Academy Award — Best Actress for her starring role as disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding in I, Tonya.

“Whose kneecaps did Tonya Harding have to break to get this dream casting?” Kimmel joked.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’s Sam Rockwell picked up the first award of the night for Best Supporting Actor.

WINNERS

Best Supporting Actor

Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski and Lucy Sibbick, Darkest Hour