Leonardo Dicaprio has finally won an Oscar. Phew!

But Rock is arguably America’s most incisive commentator on racial issues, which is why he was the flawless host for a year in which Hollywood’s diversity issues sucked most of the rest of the Oscars oxygen out of the room.

The 88th Academy Awards ceremony commonly referred to as Oscars, was held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, this morning.

“Pope Francis, it’s time to protect the children and restore the faith”, he said.

A British star who scooped a surprise victory was Mark Rylance, who was named best supporting actor for his role in Bridge Of Spies, beating Sylvester Stallone, Mark Ruffalo and fellow Britons Christian Bale and Tom Hardy.

A pleasing mixture of names anticipated and not took to the podium, Mad Max: Fury Road (pictured above) threatening an all-the-way sweep early on as George Miller’s operatic action film swept six technical awards, including editing – the trophy often seen as the bellwether for Best Picture. For the 41-year-old actor, the fifth time was a charm.

DiCaprio, finally able to deliver a winner’s speech out loud, relished the opportunity to lecture the Dolby Theatre, and a worldwide audience of several hundred million, on the evils of climate change. It’s happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species….

But it was not all celebration, as a row over the lack of ethnic minority acting hopefuls overshadowed Hollywood’s biggest night.

He was also nominated as a producer for “The Wolf of Wall Street” at the 86th Academy Awards Ceremony.

“Is Hollywood racist? You’re damn right it’s racist but it’s sorority racist”. For the second consecutive year, all 20 of the acting nominees were white.

Former radio DJ Inarritu, just the third filmmaker to win back-to-back Academy Awards for best director, picked up the theme as he hailed his latest Oscar as a tribute to diversity.

“I (am) very lucky to be here tonight but unfortunately many others haven’t had the same luck”, Inarritu said, expressing the hope that, in the future, skin color would become as irrelevant as the length of one’s hair.

He edged out Bryan Cranston (Trumbo), Matt Damon (The Martian), Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs) and Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl) to take the Best Actor statuette. Here are some GIFs and memes doing rounds on social media where people imagine him post the much awaited win.

Later, he told reporters: “This is a journey I will never forget with Alejandro. You raised my game”.

The film had six Oscar nominations, winning two for Original Screenplay and Best Picture.

“The Revenant”, buoyed by big box office and a win at the BAFTAs, is seen as the one with the most momentum and has the best odds in Las Vegas.

Mexico’s Emmanuel Lubezki made history with his third consecutive Oscar for cinematography, for his dramatic work on “The Revenant“.

His romantic Romeo + Juliet and Titanic roles went unrecognised by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and it was another 10 years before his obsessive-compulsive Howard Hughes in The Aviator brought a second Oscar nomination.

The pop star, who has recently spoken out about being raped as a teenager, was introduced by Vice President Joe Biden who personally took part in Hollywood’s biggest night to lend his voice to the cause.