Oscars get 34.3 million viewers, lowest rating since 2008

“You’re damn right Hollywood is racist”, he said. And they’re not nicest white people on earth.

The paucity of minority nominees this year led to calls for a boycott among some black stars, including Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee.

“Though clearly we don’t take full credit for the decline (in the TV audience), certainly one would have to assume we were effective and part of the decline”, Sharpton said in a statement on Monday.

Jon Stewart’s 2008 show, when the Coen brothers” “No Country For Old Men’ took best picture, remains a low point at 32 million, while Chris Rock’s last outing in 2005 managed an impressive 42.1 million.

“Leonardo DiCaprio finally wins Academy Award”, BBC staff wrote of the news, while Deadline writer Joe Utichi wrote, “It might have been the night’s most predictable result, but Leonardo DiCaprio’s Best Actor win for his role in “The Revenant” still felt like Oscar doing right by a guy nominated five times before”.

Some of the signs included the slogans, “Hollywood Must do Better” and “Shame on You”. “We want opportunity. We want black actors to get the same opportunities. That’s it. Not just once”.

The movie was honored two more times in the category production design and again for best makeup and hair styling. “When your grandmother is swinging from a tree, it’s really hard to care about best documentary foreign short”.

Variety’s Brian Lowry said Rock “brilliantly threaded the needle with his opening monologue”.

The black comedian is known for dealing with racial issues in his routines and it is expected he will make reference to the recent controversy.

As in other years, the show had its share of issue-oriented acceptance speeches.

On the red carpet, actors and actresses handled tough diversity questions along with the traditional “Who are you wearing?” This was followed by a “Black History Month Minute” segment hosted by Angela Bassett, which ended up being a joke tribute to Jack Black.

“They have this idea that the paradigm is still black-white and they need to expand the conversation”.

Alicia Vikander accepts the award for best actress in a supporting role for “The Danish Girl” at the Oscars on February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

Speaking to reporters after the Academy Awards ceremony, DiCaprio said he had hoped he’d be able to bring his message about climate urgency to the millions of people watching the Oscars. And if this is the past year that we have to witness an all-white Oscars-as if to tell us we are good enough to give out Oscars but never to receive them-then he did a good job.