Will Smith's altercation with Chris Rock reels in audiences, Oscars ratings bounce back after 50% record fall last year

During the live telecast, three female hosts - Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall - joked about several issues including pay equity as they said that hiring three female hosts was "cheaper than one man".

Leonardo DiCaprio has "done so much to fight climate change and leave behind a cleaner, greener planet for his girlfriends," said Schumer, joking about his penchant for younger women.

Ariana DeBose received the first Oscar of the evening as she became the first Afro-Latina and openly LBGTQ actor to win an Academy Award for supporting actress.

Host Regina Hall called the 'sexy' actors such as Bradley Cooper, Timothee Chalamet and more on the stage for a random Covid testing so that she can "test them, naked, backstage, do swab test with her tongue". She then went on to grope Josh Brolin. Awkward ... !

To help regain the cultural spotlight, the Oscars leaned heavily on musical performances, opening the ceremony with Beyonce who sang her heart out through an elaborated show shot at Compton tennis court. Next in line was Billie Eilish who delivered a moving performance by singing 'No Time To Die' from the last Bond encounter.

Troy Kotsur became the first hearing-impaired man to win an Oscar. He took home the trophy for his supportive fisherman-Dad role in family drama 'CODA', which is a remake of a 2014 French film La Famille Bélier.

The Ukrainian-born Mila Kunis led a 30-second moment of silence for Ukraine. Some stars, like Sean Penn, had lobbied the Academy to have Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak at the ceremony.

Oscars producers had promised to highlight not just this year's nominated films, but classic movies of the past, which included a segment on the 50th anniversary of 'The Godfather' which brought Francis Ford Coppola, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro to the stage. Uma Thurman and John Travolta also performed their distinctive dance from 'Pulp Fiction', before Samuel L Jackson withdrew the best actor envelope from the film's mysterious glowing briefcase. There was also a video montage of James Bond films, bizarrely introduced by sporting stars Shaun White, Tony Hawk, and Kelly Slater.

Campion was honoured as best director at the Academy Awards for the unconventional Western 'The Power of the Dog'. The 67-year-old film-maker's victory marks the first time the directing award has gone to women in back-to-back years, with Chloe Zhao winning last year for 'Nomadland'. Campion is the third woman to win in the category and the first woman to be nominated twice for directing, triumphed over a field that included Steven Spielberg for the remake of 'West Side Story'.'

A remark delivered by comedian Chris Rock on Jada Pinkett Smith did not go down well with Will Smith, which led to Sunday night's biggest moment - a nominated actor slapping a presenter on live telecast. The unprecedented physical altercation upstaged the final half hour of the show, including Smith's Best Actor honour, and will certainly go down as one of the most memorable moments in Oscar history.