Oscars 2020: Joaquin Phoenix talks rights, equality, remembers late brother in emotionally charged acceptance speech

The 2020 Academy Awards had a series of firsts this year, one of which was Joaquin Phoenix winning his first Oscar for his performance as an isolated loner who becomes one of the world’s best known comic book villains in Joker.

Joaquin, in his speech, invoked his late brother River Phoenix and went on to give one of the most emotionally stirring acceptable speeches of the night. Joaquin won his oscar after previously being nominated three times, crowning this year's award season by sweeping every major prize for his role in the standalone origin story of Batman’s archenemy.

"I’ve been a scoundrel in my life, I’ve been selfish, I’ve been cruel at times, I’ve been hard to work with. I’m grateful so many of you in this room have given me a second chance. When he was 17, my brother wrote this lyric, he said: Run to the rescue with love and peace will follow," he said in his speech, concluding his speech tearfully to a standing ovation. 

His brother, River, died of a drug overdose at a Hollywood night club in 1993 at age 23.

February 10, 2020

In his emotional address, Joaquin also spoke about animal farming and cruelty and said, "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. And then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf and put it in our coffee and our cereal. And I think we feel the idea of personal change is that we have to sacrifice something, to give something up, but human beings at our best are so inventive, and creative, and ingenious, that I think that we…. 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 the environment."

Joaquin is a huge supporter of animal rights which was evident when he recently went to a slaughterhouse right after accepting his SAG Award to comfort pigs with other animal lovers. His Oscar win made Joaquin the second person to get an Academy Award for playing the Joker character. Heath Ledger won a best-supporting actor Oscar in 2009 for playing the Joker in The Dark Knight.