Watch Joaquin Phoenix's Oscar 2020 Speech for Best Actor
Joaquin Phoenix is the Oscars 2020 winner for Actor in a Leading Role for his performance as Arthur Fleck in JOKER! Congratulations to Joaquin Phoenix on his first Oscar win. This is his third time being nominated in this category. His past nominations include leading roles in WALK THE LINE, THE MASTER and GLADIATOR. Other nominees for Actor in a Leading Role included Antonio Banderas in PAIN AND GLORY, Leonardo DiCaprio in ONCE UPON A TIME...IN HOLLYWOOD, Adam Driver in MARRIAGE STORY, and Jonathan Pryce in THE TWO POPES. Watch Joaquin Phoenix's Oscar acceptance speech below!
UPDATE: This clip has expired.
Joaquin Phoenix accepts the Oscar for Actor in a Leading Role for the film, JOKER, at Oscars 2020.
In his speech, he honors his late brother River Phoenix. Read the full transcript below:[We have to] continue to use our voice for the voiceless. I've been thinking a lot about some of the distressing issues that we are facing collectively. I think at times we feel, or were made to feel, that we champion different causes, but for me, I see commonality. I think, whether we're talking about gender inequality or racism or queer rights or indigenous rights or animal rights, we're talking about the fight against injustice. We're talking about the fight against the belief that one nation, one people, one race, one gender or one species has the right to dominate, control and use and exploit another with impunity.
I think that we've become very disconnected from the natural world, and many of us, what we're guilty of is an egocentric worldview -- the belief that we're the center of the universe. We go into the natural world, and we plunder it for its resources. We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow, and when she gives birth, we steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. Then, we take her milk, that's intended for her calf, and we put it in our coffee and our cereal, and I think we fear the idea of personal change because we think that we have to sacrifice something to give something up. But human beings, at our best, are so inventive and creative and ingenious, and I think that when we use love and compassion as our guiding principles, we can create, develop and implement systems of change that are beneficial to all sentient beings and to the environment.
Now, I have been a scoundrel in my life. I've been selfish. I've been cruel at times, hard to work with and ungrateful, but so many of you in this room have given me a second chance. And I think that's when we're at our best, when we support each other, not when we cancel each other out for past mistakes, but when we help each other to grow, when we educate each other, when we guide each other toward redemption. That is the best of community.
When he was 17, my brother wrote this lyric. It said, 'Run to the rescue with love, and peace will follow.'"
RELATED: See the full list of Oscars 2020 Winners!
In JOKER, a young man longs to be a stand-up comic in Gotham's fractured society, but finds the joke is always on him. Caught in a cycle of apathy, cruelty and ultimately, betrayal, the comedian makes one bad decision after another, bringing about a chain reaction of escalating events. The 92nd Oscars were held on Sunday, February 9, 2020, at the Dolby® Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and were televised live on ABC and in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
