Joaquin Phoenix cleaned up at the BAFTAs, the Golden Globes, and the Oscars this year.

His performance as Joker in Joker has landed him ‘Best Actor’ awards across the board.

Winning ‘Best Actor’ gives one the opportunity to speak to an international audience, and Phoenix wasn’t about to pass it up.

He used his Oscar speech to touch briefly on gender inequality, racism, and some of the other issues that have come up this year in reference to the Academy Awards.

He could have expanded on these issues. Instead, per VICE, he did this:

“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,” Phoenix said. “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.”

After saying thanks to a few people, he launched:

Joaquin Phoenix might have given the best and most emotional Oscar speech of the last 10years pic.twitter.com/OpT3wy7nsd

— Pope Enekem 💎 (@EnekemG) February 10, 2020

Seth saw this coming. He mentioned Phoenix in a recent article:

I mean, who even drinks cow’s milk these days? Certainly not Joaquin Phoenix. And as for almond milk, why would you contribute to the systematic slaughter of billions of bees?

Back to VICE for why Phoenix’s speech was on point, albeit strangely delivered:

We treat animals terribly, and factory farming is bleak as shit. He just got that point across in one of the most bizarre ways imaginable.

Still, good on you, Joaquin, for nodding toward the broader fight against injustice as a whole, and using your platform to at least say something of substance.

It’s a small step in the right direction for all the ‘scoundrels’ out there.

[source:vice]