Neil Patrick Harris, made sure to open the Academy Award show with a bang, and well timed joke about Hollywood’s overwhelming diversity problem.
Well, he did say he wanted to outdo Ellen DeGeneres’ epic Oscars selfie, and he may have done that in the first 8 seconds of the show.
The audience looked on in shock as he joked:
“Welcome to the 87th Oscars. Tonight we honor Hollywood’s best and whitest — sorry, brightest.”
Neil Patrick Harris
The actor’s shot at the Academy should really come no surprise. The hashtag #OscarsSoWhite began trending on Twitter shortly after the nominees were announced back in January, and judging by the reaction on Twitter last night, plenty of others thought he was right to call out this year’s Academy Awards.
Neil Patrick Harris wins the Oscars one sentence in. “We’re here to recognise the best & the whitest – sorry BRIGHTEST” On point! #Oscars — Eoghan McDermott (@eoghanmcdermo) February 23, 2015
Oprah approves… #Oscars2015 pic.twitter.com/XwesSmzrTp — Brian Koerber (@bkurbs) February 23, 2015
It took approx. 8 seconds for Neil Patrick Harris to talk out the Academy’s white privilege. #Oscars2015 — Charles Clymer (@cmclymer) February 23, 2015
#OscarsSoWhite neil patrick harris dropping the truth bomb. he knows what’s up barely 10 min into the show. hollywoods white-oppss brightest — NaTaShA~(•_•)~ (@CluelessClone) February 23, 2015
The rest of his opening show, involved an epic sing-a-long with Anna Kendrick and Jack Black, which was a heartfelt musical ode to Hollywood, with NPH inserting himself digitally on stage into movies like The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars and Ghost.
