Jordan Peele had the greatest reaction to becoming the first black screenwriter to win Best Original Screenplay

It was the Oscars last night, and some of you watched it, I think - of course, I was far too busy watching Kill ‘Em All, the latest Jean-Claude Van Damme film*, to bother with a stuffy awards ceremony, but still. 

One of the biggest awards categories of the night is the Best Original Screenplay award, which this year was deservedly won by our good mate, Jordan Peele, for his top-tier flick, Get Out. Very good, do the clappy-hands and patty-backs - lovely work, Jord.

But this win is a tad more significant than your common-or-garden Oscar-nab, for Jordan Peele has made history as the first black winner in this category. Only four black film writers have ever been nominated here: Suzanne de Passe (for Lady Sings the Blues), Spike Lee (for Do the Right Thing) John Singleton (for Boyz n the Hood) and of course, Jordan Peele.

In the other writing category: Best Adapted Screenplay, four black writers have won in the past - Geoffrey Fletcher for Precious, John Ridley for Twelve Years a Slave, and Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney for Moonlight.

Essentially, it’s taken 90 years to get to this point, and who better than Jordan Peele to buck the trend? Also, who better than Jordan Peele to offer a typically down-to-earth response to winning?

In his acceptance speech, Peele admitted he worked through a lot of self-doubt while writing the movie, dedicating the win to everyone who helped make the ‘impossible’ possible.

“This means so much to me,” he said. “I stopped writing this movie about twenty times because I thought it wasn’t possible, it wasn’t going to work. I thought no one would ever make this movie. But I kept coming back to it because I knew that if people let me make this movie then people would hear it, and see it. 

“I want to dedicate this to everyone who raised my voice, and let me make this movie.”

As I’ve said before: Jordan Peele is one of my favourite humans on this terrible planet, so I really hope this Oscar win doesn’t turn him into some weird luvvie-type, but on the strength of that response, I’d say I don’t have to worry.

*I’m sure you’re also very keen to find out what I thought of Kill ‘Em All, the latest Jean-Claude Van Damme film, so here’s my verdict: it was not very good.

(Image: Rex)