Plenty of Oscar acceptance speeches have gone off the rails before, but no one has ever thanked their parents for having sex and giving birth to them — at least, until Daniel Kaluuya. That’s exactly what he did on Sunday night, and yes, his mother was in the audience, looking absolutely beside herself.
Kaluuya took home the award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for portraying Fred Hampton in “Judas and the Black Messiah.” The Oscar is the actor’s first. He began his acceptance speech by thanking God, then went into thanking his collaborators, before expressing his joy at simply being alive.
“We’ve got to celebrate life, man. We’re breathing, we’re walking, it’s incredible. It’s incredible!” Kaluuya said. “Like, it’s incredible! My mom met my dad, they had sex, it’s amazing! Do you know what I’m saying? I’m here!”
At that, Kaluuya’s sister dropped her head into her hands, hiding her face, while their mother looked visibly confused. She appeared to say “What’s he going on about?” but her actual voice was inaudible. Kaluuya wrapped his speech up moments later.
Following the win, Daniel Kaluuya was asked if he had spoken to his mom about the callout yet, to which he responded, “Yeah, no, no I’m gonna avoid my phone for a bit, man, just me, let me wave my phone for a bit, I think my mother’s not gonna be very happy.”
You can watch Daniel Kaluuya’s full Oscar acceptance speech above.
