Daniel Kaluuya won the award for Best Supporting Actor at the 93rd Academy Awards, for his portrayal of Black Panthers leader Fred Hampton in Shaka King’s Judas and the Black Messiah.
The actor also won the Golden Globe for his performance.
During his acceptance speech, the actor acknowledged he shared the victory with his co-star and fellow nominee LaKeith Stanfield, who played FBI informant William O’Neal.
Speaking about Hampton, who was murdered by the FBI at the age of just 21, Kaluuya said, “What a man. What a man. How blessed we are we lived in a lifetime where he existed.”
The speech then took a more unusual turn as the actor got personal about his, uh, origins.
“My mum, my dad — they had sex. It’s amazing I’m here,” Kaluuya said for reasons known only to him.
The camera then quickly cut to Kaluuya’s sister, who had her head in her hands, and his mother, Damalie Namusoke, who appeared to mouth, “What is he on about?”
Of course, Twitter was quick to jump on the awkward moment with one user writing, “lol daniels mom will deal with him when he gets home [sic]”.
lol daniels mom will deal with him when he gets home
— E. Alex Jung (probably) (@e_alexjung) April 26, 2021
Another user simply wrote, “I would like to thank Daniel Kaluuya‘s parents.”, while yet another joked, “Daniel Kaluuya before the speech: “This will be the most important speech of my life” Daniel Kaluuya during the speech: “My mom, my dad, they had sex…”.
i would like to thank daniel kaluuya's parents
— hunter harris (@hunteryharris) April 26, 2021
Daniel Kaluuya before the speech: "This will be the most important speech of my life"
Daniel Kaluuya during the speech: “My mom, my dad, they had sex…”#Oscars
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) April 26, 2021
Plenty of Tweets also honed in on the reactions from his mother and sister with one user using a close up of Namusoke’s bemused face. “Incredible that we get to see the real-time reaction from Daniel Kaluuya’s mother as he talks about his parents having sex,” they wrote.
Incredible that we get to see the real-time reaction from Daniel Kaluuya’s mother as he talks about his parents having sex pic.twitter.com/juxCZeJcQC
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) April 26, 2021
In his backstage speech to the press, Kaluuya referenced his unusual speech saying, “I haven’t talked to my mum yet. I’m gonna avoid my phone for a bit. But she’ll be cool. She has a sense of humour.”
Here’s hoping!
Read more stories from The Latch and subscribe to our email newsletter.