Oscars speeches filled with political activism, pet issues

Much of the chatter going into the Oscars was about the lack of diversity in the Academy’s choices, specifically the dearth of nominations for ‘Selma’.

(Read: Julianne Moore wins Oscar for Best Actress)

But while there were plenty of references to racial justice during the ceremony — drawing tears from the movie’s David Oyelowo at one point — issues mentioned in acceptance speeches ranged from suicide to Alzheimer’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease to wage equality for women.

IMMIGRATION
Sean Penn raised eyebrows with a reference he made to green cards in presenting the Oscarfor best picture to Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for ‘Birdman’, but the two are friends and Inarritu interpreted the comment as a joke.

(Read: Birdman’ wins Best Picture at Oscars 2015)

“Who gave this son of a bitch his green card?” Penn said.
Inarritu, who is Mexican, hugged Penn warmly, and joked that the U.S. government might now impose immigration rules on the academy: “Two Mexicans in a row, that’s suspicious.” Alfonso Cuaron, another Mexican director, won for ‘Gravity’ last year.

On a serious note, he said, he hoped the “latest generation of immigrants … can be treated with the same dignity and respect of the ones who came before and built this incredible immigrant nation.”

ALS AND ALZHEIMER’S
In accepting the award for best actress for ‘Still Alice’, Julianne Moore said the movie shines a light on Alzheimer’s, saying, “People with Alzheimer’s deserve to be seen.” She also noted that Richard Glatzer, who directed and wrote it with Wash Westmoreland, has ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Eddie Redmayne, accepting the best actor award for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in ‘The Theory of Everything’, said: “This Oscar belongs to all of those people around the world battling ALS.”

(Also read: Eddie Redmayne wins best actor Oscar for ‘Theory of Everything’)

SUICIDE
Graham Moore, who won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay for ‘The Imitation Game’, said in his acceptance speech that he had tried to kill himself as a teenager.

“When I was 16, I tried to kill myself because I felt weird and I felt different and I felt like I did not belong,” he said. “I would like this moment to be for the kid out there who feels like she’s weird and different and feels like she doesn’t belong. … Yes, you do.”

Backstage, Moore said he saw the public moment as a rare opportunity for a writer and figured that “I might as well use it to say something meaningful.”

Earlier in the ceremony, Dana Perry mentioned that her continued…