Sandra Oh got real and applauded the Golden Globes’ diversity during her opening monologue

During the opening monologue for the Golden Globes, co-host Sandra Oh took a moment to praise the diversity in the room. It was a raw moment that showcased how far Hollywood has come.

It was an unlikely duo. Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg co-hosted the 2019 Golden Globes on Sunday night. And while the two were favorable when they presented at the Emmys late last year, bringing those two back as the hosts of an entire show felt like an odd idea.

Yet, throughout the night, the two surprisingly managed to develop a good flow with one another and delivered the jokes quite well. Most of the jokes were about diversity in Hollywood, making sure not to prod so much on the “offensive” line, but rather overly praising everyone’s accomplishments. (Proving there’s a way to poke fun at someone and be funny without being outrageous or disrespectful.)

After their jokes, Oh took a moment to speak from the heart about the diversity she saw in the room that night. Since the spawn of movements like #OscarsSoWhite and Time’s Up, diversity and inclusion efforts have been all the more prevalent in media — and there was no better example of that than at the Golden Globes. In the speech, Oh expressed just how proud she was, saying:

"If I could take a moment in all honesty, I said “yes” to the fear of being on this stage tonight. Because I wanted to be here to look out into this audience and witness this moment of change. And I’m not fooling myself. Next year could be different. It probably will be. But right now, this moment is real. Trust me, it’s real because I see you… All of these faces of change. And now, so will everyone else."

After her speech, the camera cut to the crowd showing diverse faces of the men and (mostly) women in the room that night.

Octavia Spencer was the first to wave to the camera, as other actresses like Regina King, Michelle Yeoh and Jameela Jamil were shown on screen — those faces showing that there’s so much more to diversity than being black or white, whereas now there are finally leading roles for people of Asian descent, of Latin heritage, in the LGTBQ community, and so on. Constance Wu was nominated for her role in Crazy Rich Asians, Alfonso Cuarón won Best Director, Black Panther was nominated for Best Picture – Drama… and the list goes on and on.

While Sandra Oh praised the diversity in the room that night, she mentioned the caveat that things may not always look as good as they do this year. While the people nominated in the room represented diverse backgrounds, reports show that Hollywood is still very slow to make significant changes.

A report from last year showed that only a third of speaking roles in movies were for women, which was about the same as 2017’s figure. People of color were still large unrepresented, and just a third of characters on screen were part of the LGBTQ community (most of which were white males).

If there’s any hope for a more inclusive future in Hollywood, the faces in the room Sunday night will be a testament to all the great work that can come from a diverse group of people. Audiences are more than willing to see themselves positively represented on screen and see people from other cultures as well. Hollywood absolutely can’t let Sandra Oh down next year, so hopefully, they’ll make it a good one right now.