Joaquin Phoenix calls out disconnected, egocentric views in Best Actor Oscars speech

Joaquin Phoenix took home the award for Best Actor for his role in Joker. His speech, naturally, was just as political as his others during this awards season.

Joker lead Joaquin Phoenix is no longer just the clown prince of crime; he’s also become the crowned prince of awards season this year. In an (un)surprising turn of events, Phoenix took home the award for Best Actor at the Oscars Sunday night.

The speech for the night was a bit awkward as the audience watched on in a sort of uncomfortable silence. And in his speech, Phoenix touched on a wide array of topics, calling out pretty much everyone (including himself) for being out-of-touch from the world around us.

Here’s a highlight of what Phoenix had to say:

"I do not feel elevated above any of my fellow nominees or anyone in this room because we share the same love, the love of film and this form of expression has given me the most extraordinary– I don’t know what I’d be without it. But I think the greatest gift that it has given me, and many of us in this room, is the opportunity to use our voice for the voiceless.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 the belief, one nation, 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 world view, the belief that we’re the center of the universe."

You can see a clip of Phoenix’s speech in the video below.

This, of course, isn’t abnormal for Phoenix, who’s been known for his headline-making awards speeches. This year alone, he called out the lack of diversity and representation at the BAFTAs and he pushed boundaries by dropping an F-bomb at the Golden Globes.

Both Joker and Phoenix have had an astounding awards season. At the Oscars alone, the movie was nominated for a grand total of 11 awards but took home a total of two. (Best Original Score was its other win.) And throughout the awards season, Phoenix won Best Actor at the Golden Globes as well as Best Actor in a Leading Role at the BAFTAs. This made Phoenix a shoo-in for Best Actor at the Oscars, and it marks his first Oscars win out of a total of four nominations since 2001.

Keep up with FanSided Entertainment as we follow along with the 92nd annual Academy Awards. Follow the Oscars category on our site for more Oscars news or follow our updated winner’s list to see all the winners from Sunday night.