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90th Annual Academy Awards Press Room

Source: Apega/WENN.com / WENN

Jordan Peele became the first Black writer to win the Oscar award for Best Original Screenplay for his critically-acclaimed film, Get Out, which was up for four awards. Peele is just the fourth Black writer since 1972 to be nominated, and the first since 1991.

Peele’s Get Out was something of a point of contention for Oscar voters considering its genre category and that horror isn’t typically recognized by the academy. However, the strong work from Daniel Kaluuya, Peele’s deft writing and directing, and a plot twist for the ages gave the film an undeniable push to its rarefied heights.

In the speech, Peele, clearly trying to maintain his emotions, said clearly in the speech that he almost walked away from the film but pressed on.

“I stopped writing this movie about 20 times because I thought it was impossible. I thought 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 if someone let me make this movie, that people would hear it and people would see it,” Peele said in his rousing acceptance speech.

The other Black writers nominated for Best Original Screenplay are Suzanne de Passe for Lady Sings the Blues in 1972, Spike Lee for Do the Right Thing in 1989, and John Singleton for Boyz n the Hood in 1991.

The moment was clearly still sinking in as Peele took to Twitter to express his shock at winning.  Congratulations to Jordan Peele and the entire Get Out cast and crew.

Photo: WENN.com