Jordan Peele becomes first African-American to win Oscar for best original screenplay for 'Get Out'

ByDanny Clemens WABC logo
Monday, March 5, 2018
Jordan Peele makes history with Best Original Screenplay Oscar
Jordan Peele accepts his historic Best Original Screenplay Oscar.

LOS ANGELES -- Jordan Peele made history at the 90th Oscars, becoming the first African-American to win the best original screenplay Oscar for "Get Out."



After a standing ovation from his peers, Peele confessed that he had stopped writing the critically acclaimed and commercially successful horror film nearly two dozens times, fearing it may never get made.



"I thought it was impossible. I thought it wasn't going to work. I thought no one would ever make this movie," he said. "I kept coming back to it because I knew if someone would let me make this movie that people would hear it and people would see it."



"So I want to dedicate this to all the people who raised my voice and let me make this movie," Peele added.



The Oscar was the latest in a string of honors Peele collected this award season for "Get Out." He'd already won a Satellite Award, a Critics Choice Movie Award, a Directors Guild of America Award, a Writers Guild of America Award and two Independent Spirit Awards, and received numerous other nominations.



Following Peele's win, long-time collaborator Keegan Michael-Key (with whom Peele created "Key & Peele," which ran for five seasons on Comedy Central), sent his congratulations with the hashtag #OscarsSoPeele.





Peele's win comes amid a years-long wave of change at the Oscars and in Hollywood in general as creators and fans alike pushed for greater diversity in the industry through campaigns like #OscarsSoWhite, #AskHerMore and #TimesUp. The 90th Oscars also saw Greta Gerwig nab the first female director nom in nearly a decade, while James Ivory became the oldest Oscar winner ever.

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