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The 93rd Academy Awards took place in Los Angeles last night – at the more COVID-friendly Union Station, as opposed to the usual location, the Dolby Theatre.

And as always, some of the speeches both on and off the stage were among the highlights of the night…

Viola Davis – who was nominated in the ‘Best Actress’ category for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – paid tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman on last night’s Oscars red carpet.

And had she won the ‘Best Actress in a Leading Role’ award (it went to Frances McDormand for Nomadland, which we also feel was very well-deserved), we have a feeling that she would have continued to praise her Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom co-star in her acceptance speech too…

“He was authenticity on steroids,” the 55-year-old actress said on the red carpet.

“Sometimes people honour people who actually were not very nice or for whom the persona did not match the real person. This… it matches the person, I’m telling you.

“This person, this human being, this artist, did not mistake his presence for the event. He absolutely honoured the work.

“A lot people went into this business because they wanted to be famous actors. They don’t want to be actors; they want to be famous actors. He entered it because he just wanted to be an artist.”

Chadwick Boseman missed out on a posthumous award for his role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at last night’s Oscars, losing out to Anthony Hopkins for his role in The Father.

The 83-year-old actor didn’t attend the 2021 Oscars, but shared a video of his brief acceptance speech that he recorded from Wales the next day…

“Good morning. Here I am in my homeland in Wales, and at 83 years of age I did not expect to get this award, I really didn’t,” he began, before paying tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman who was nominated alongside him.

“Very grateful to the Academy and thank you, and I want to pay tribute to Chadwick Boseman, who was taken from us far too early.

“And again thank you all very much. Really did not expect this, so I feel very privileged and honoured. Thank you.”

Head to the official Oscars website to see the full list of nominees and winners.