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Oscars 2017: The best (and worst) speeches, ranked

Patrick Ryan
USA TODAY
Barry Jenkins, left, and Tarell Alvin McCraney accept the award for best adapted screenplay for 'Moonlight' at the Oscars on Sunday.

At one of the wildest Oscars in history, here are the speeches that surprised, moved and bored us:

The best

1. Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney

Best adapted screenplay for Moonlight

Before Moonlight's shocking win for best picture after La La Land was announced, Jenkins and playwright McCraney delivered a timely message to LGBT youth, particularly those affected by Trump's reversal of transgender bathroom policies this past week as they accepted the award for best adapted screenplay. "For all you people out there who feel there is no mirror for you, that you feel your life is not reflected, the Academy has your back, the (American Civil Liberties Union) has your back, we have your back, and for the next four years ... we will not forget you," Jenkins said.

McCraney added: "This goes out to all those black and brown boys and girls and non-gender conforming who don’t see themselves. We are trying to show you — you and us — so thank you. This is for you." It was the perfect combination of political and personal, reminding us why Moonlight is the film we need right now.

Emma Stone with her Oscar for best actress in 'La La Land.'

2. Emma Stone

Best actress for La La Land

Regardless of whether you think she deserved best actress over French icon Isabelle Huppert or Jackie star Natalie Portman (who was unable to attend due to her pregnancy), it was impossible not to feel glad for the 28-year-old La La Land star as she took the stage, teary and grinning as she rattled off a list of names. "I realize that a moment like this is a huge confluence of luck and opportunity," Stone said, before thanking co-star Ryan Gosling for always "making (her) laugh" and "raising the bar." She ended on a classy, humble note, admitting how "I still have a lot of growing and learning and work to do, and this (award) is a really beautiful symbol to continue on that journey, and I’m so grateful for that."

Oscars 2017: Winners list

An Oscar, and a new baby for Mahershala Ali.

3. Mahershala Ali

Best supporting actor for Moonlight

The awards-season breakout gave one of the year’s most memorable speeches at the Screen Actors Guild Awards last month, where he proudly declared “I am a Muslim” while accepting the supporting actor trophy for Moonlight. While not politically charged, his Oscars speech Sunday night was no less emotional, as he thanked his teachers and his wife, who just had a baby late last week. “I just want to thank her for being such a soldier through this process and really carrying me through it all,” Ali said, teary-eyed. Cue the waterworks for those at home.

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Engineer/astronaut Anousheh Ansari, left, and former NASA scientist Firouz Naderi.

4. Anousheh Ansari

Accepted the foreign-film trophy on behalf of AsgharFahardi, theIranaian director of The Salesman

After a long season of anti-Trump speeches from everyone from Meryl Streep to Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sunday's awards felt oddly restrained, with host Jimmy Kimmel doing much of the political heavy-lifting. But one of the ceremony's most powerful moments arrived midway through, when astronaut/engineer Ansari took the stage to read a statement from Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, winner for best foreign language film for The Salesman, who boycotted the show in light of Trump's controversial travel ban. "Filmmakers can turn their cameras to capture shared human qualities and break stereotypes of various nationalities and religions," Ansari read. "They create empathy between us and others — an empathy we need today more than ever." It was a much-needed jolt of urgency during an awards show that, at times, felt a little candy-coated.

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Viola Davis hoists the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in ‘Fences.’

5. Viola Davis

Best-supporting actress for Fences

Look, no one has mastered the art of the heart-tugging acceptance speech better than Viola Davis. From her urgent plea for representation at the 2015 Emmy Awards to her championing of "ordinary stories" at last month's SAG Awards, the How to Get Away With Murder actress has always been impassioned and eloquent in delivering her messages. But the supporting-actress winner for Fences came across slightly repetitious and tone-deaf at Sunday's ceremony, with many Twitter users taking issue with her seemingly self-congratulatory proclamation that "we are the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life." Fortunately, she managed to turn things back around in the second half of her speech with genuinely moving tributes to her family and "captain," Fences co-star Denzel Washington.

We expected more from these winners — they've had plenty of practice!

Casey Affleck  accepts the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in 'Manchester by the Sea.'

6. Casey Affleck

Best actor for Manchester By the Sea

A night after calling out Donald Trump's "abhorrent" and "un-American" policies at the Independent Spirit Awards, the best-actor winner was admittedly at a loss for words while accepting the Oscar for Manchester by the Sea. "Man, I wish I had something bigger and more meaningful to say, but I’m really proud to be part of this community in general," Affleck mumbled, thanking fellow nominee Denzel Washington, writer/director Kenneth Lonergan and the film's producer, Matt Damon. It was a sincere, but ultimately, forgetful moment from the controversial star.

Damien Chazelle accepts the award for best director for 'La La Land.'

7. Damien Chazelle

Best director for La La Land

The youngest-ever winner for best director played it fairly by the numbers in his acceptance speech, thanking his fellow nominees, his family, La La Land composer Justin Hurwitz, and the movie musical's stars Gosling and Stone. But he did wrap his time at the podium on a sweet note, with a shout-out to his girlfriend, actress Olivia Hamilton. "This movie is about love and I was lucky enough to fall in love while making it," Chazelle said. "It means the world to me that you’re here sharing this with me, thank you."