Internet explodes to celebrate Leonardo DiCaprio finally winning an Oscar
Four failed acting nominations and 22 years later, his millions of fans could not be more happy
The Oscars-snub-Leo jokes can officially retire. The 88th Oscars was the year Leonardo DiCaprio finally won an Academy Award after four previous acting nominations over 22 years.
every night before the Oscars, Leo has this nightmare pic.twitter.com/p9qPAiQ5yt— Adam Khan (@Khanoisseur) February 28, 2016
Taking home the little gold statue for The Revenant, the 41-year-old actor had been previously nominated for best leading actor in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Blood Diamond (2006), The Aviator (2004) and best supporting actor for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993).
He wasn’t the only one holding his breath. Fans (and fans of social media’s long running gag) were delighted for Leo. His long time Oscar-winning friend and Titanic co-star, Kate Winslet reacted with as much support as netizens had hoped Rose would for Jack.
Extending the survival theme further, DiCaprio devoted the bulk of his acceptance speech to an impassioned call to save the planet in the face of the global warming crisis, saying, “It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to work collectively and stop procrastinating.”
Social media fans did not fail to recognise the bear’s efforts in helping DiCaprio win. His character Hugh Glass is a trapper left for dead in the Rocky Mountain wilderness after a grizzly bear attack.
Of course, with Winslet by his side for most of the night, fans celebrated the win with Titanic jokes, blazing a new series of Leo-Oscar memes with his prolific movies.
A photo posted by Rodolfo Jimenez (@rodolfojimenezm) on Feb 28, 2016 at 9:17pm PST
Winslet, who won an Academy Award for best actress in The Reader in 2009 and was nominated for best supporting role this year for Steve Jobs, was beaten by Alicia Vikander in The Danish Girl.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
