Ratings for the 89th annual Academy Awards slid for a second consecutive year as a slew of wins for much-beloved La La Land, a shock Best Picture win for Moonlight and a game host in Jimmy Kimmel couldn’t move the needle this year.
According to Deadline, the three-hour, 49 minute Oscar broadcast on ABC averaged a 22.4/36 in metered market results, in the “early” numbers, marking a nine-year-low for the show.
The Hollywood Reporter notes that figure is down around four percent from last year’s telecast, which drew a 23.4 rating in the early numbers. Last year’s broadcast ultimately drew 34.4 million viewers, enough to make it the third least-watched Oscars ever, so the lower initial numbers could mean this year’s broadcast drew even less total viewers.
Sunday night’s ceremony featured plenty of anti-Donald Trump jokes from host Jimmy Kimmel, political statements from some of the honorees and presenters and one major upset.
At the tail end of the nearly four-hour-long show, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway mistakenly named La La Land the winner of the night’s biggest award, when Moonlight had actually won. La La producer Jordan Horowitz paused midway through his acceptance speech to announce that a mistake had been made and called the cast and producers of Moonlight to the stage to hand them his Oscar.
The night also featured fiery political speeches from Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, who blasted Trump’s proposed temporary immigration ban in his acceptance speech for Best Foreign Language Film, and from Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal, who criticized Trump’s proposal to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
As for the awards: Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea) took home the Best Actor prize while Emma Stone (La La Land) won Best Actress. Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) won Best Supporting Actor and Viola Davis (Fences) won Best Supporting Actress. Damien Chazelle (La La Land) won Best Director, and the musical also picked up awards for Best Original Score, Best Original Song and Best Cinematography.
Stay tuned for updated ratings later Monday, and see more from the 89th Academy Awards at the Breitbart News livewire.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum
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