Who won: Full list of 88th Academy Award winners

Instead, Rock garnered safer laughs by renaming the Oscars the "White People's Choice Awards", and name-checking black celebrities such as Kevin Hart and Wanda Sykes who otherwise wouldn't be monologue material.

Ever since #OscarsSoWhite became a social media trend - again - in the aftermath of the Oscar nominations, observers have been wondering what Rock will say about the controversy. "The Oscars celebrate the storytellers who have the opportunity to work in the powerful medium of film", the latter said. We just want opportunities. The Best Adapted Screenplay award was given to The Big Short.

The past year was very good for Tom Hardy.

And then, there was DiCaprio, who drew a standing ovation from the star-packed audience. Leonardo DiCaprio's big win, host Chris Rock's energy and poignant humor, and Mad Max: Fury Road's epic run and more are among the night's big highlights.

Apocalyptic fantasy Mad Max: Fury Road led with six wins, all in technical categories such as film editing, production design and sound mixing.

Rock made sure diversity remained front and center. "Leo, you are "The Revenant.'" Inarritu, the Mexican director, also spoke passionately about diversity in his speech, arguing to make "the color of our skin as irrelevant as the length of our hair". The model-actress who starred in 1979 film "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" passed away in 1998 at the age of 49.

Rock let Hollywood off the hook. Charles Randolph and Adam McKay have written the screenplay for the film. 

Rock also had some more lighthearted material, including a bit in which he brought out his daughter to sell Girl Scout cookies.

Alicia Vikander was named best supporting actress, playing the wife of a transgender artist in the 1920s in The Danish Girl.

The routine was followed with a video bit in which black actors took roles in films that had been nominated for Oscars, including Whoopi Goldberg in "Joy" and Rock in "The Martian", as well as a freakish appearance by actress Stacey Dash, who had called for the elimination of Black History Month.

Priyanka Chopra arrives wearing a Zuhair Murad at the 88th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California February 28, 2016. "He dedicated his win for the theme song in James Bond film "Spectre" to the gay community, telling the A-list crowd that: "'I stand here tonight as a proud gay man and I hope that we can all stand together as equals one day". The Best Original Score was awarded to Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight. Son of Saul was given the Best Foreign Language film of the year award while Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen's Inside Out was named the Best Animated Feature Film of the year. Other early awards went as expected, including two movies that may be vying for the night's top honor.