If you were looking forward to a new category of Oscar bests — best presidential Oscar tweets — sadly, President Trump will not be watching the Academy Awards this year. 
 
 A pity, because the tweeter-in-chief had a lot to say about past years' shows. 
 
 He even offered to serve as host of the ceremony more than once. 
 
 In 2015, the now-President declared in an Instagram video that he would be the perfect host for the 2016 affair, noting that the Oscars were "terrible" under the helm of host Neil Patrick Harris. 
 
 Jimmy Kimmel says Oscars monologue will depend on President Trump 
 
 "I should host the #Oscars to shake things up — this is not good!" he wrote in 2014, when Ellen DeGeneres hosted the ceremony. 
 
 By 2016, Trump had already declared his run for president, which unfortunately made his Oscar hosting dream take a backseat. 
 
 While White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said this week that the Trumps would likely be too busy at the Governor's Ball on Sunday night to watch the event — there's still hope he'll give us an update the following day. 
 
 After all, he did wait hours before giving a calculated response on Meryl Streep's powerful political statement at the Golden Globes, calling her a "Hillary lover." 
 
 SAG Awards: Stars slam Trump as surprise winners dominate show 
 
 Director Alejandro Inarritu accepts an Oscar at the 87th Academy Awards in 2015. (MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS) 
 
 Trump wrote on Twitter the next morning, "Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn't know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes." 
 
 Here's a list of our favorite retroactively presidential Oscar tweets: 
 
 2015 Oscars 
 
 "The Oscars are a sad joke, very much like our President. So many things are wrong!" 
 
 "What ever happened to the good old days of The Academy Awards. This show is an insult to the past, just plain bad!" 
 
 Six fantastic things that should happen on Oscar night 
 
 "Put the glamour, beauty & mystery back in the Oscars and the ratings will zoom. Also, & most importantly, the Oscars need credibility." 
 
 "The Oscars were a great night for Mexico & why not-they are ripping off the US more than almost any other nation," he wrote, after director Alejandro Iñárritu's "Birdman" won best picture. 
 
 2014 OSCARS 
 
 He retweeted someone who wrote, "Only 1 solution for the Oscars, Trump as host." 
 
 Actress Meryl Streep gave an impassioned speech about politics during the 2017 Golden Globes. (HANDOUT/REUTERS) 
 
 "Which is worse and which is more dishonest — the #Oscars or the Emmys?" 
 
 Donald Trump says Meryl Streep 'over-rated' in Twitter rant 
 
 "Was President Obama in charge of this years Academy Awards — they remind me of the ObamaCare website! #Oscars." 
 
 "I'm having a real hard time watching the Academy Awards (so far). The last song was terrible! Kim should sue her plastic surgeon! #Oscars," he wrote, referring to Kim Novak. 
 
 2013 Oscars 
 
 In 2013, Trump kicked off his Oscar tweeting spree, noting it was requested "by popular demand." 
 
 "I will be tweeting on the very tainted Academy Awards tonight!" 
 
 "Django Unchained is the most racist movie I have ever seen, it sucked!" 
 
 "Lincoln never sounded like that!" 
 
 Trump to host #Oscars? #TrumpVlog A post shared by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Feb 23, 2015 at 8:10am PST 
 
 "The Oscar broadcast is really boring — where is the glamour and beauty?" 
 
 "I don't like the opening even a little bit!" 
 
 He even had a few positive things to say: 
 
 "Anne Hathaway is a good winner!" and "Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas look great!" he wrote, before signing off. 
 
 "I've had enough of this — good night!" 
 
 Us, too. ||||| Furthermore, the Golden Globes' governing body, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, has been a reliable source of cynical insider humor since the last night’s final presenter, Michael Douglas, was a toddler. The go-to joke about the HFPA used to be that nobody knew much about the group except that they were professional parasites who knew how to throw a party. Now both Hollywood insiders and showbiz-savvy viewers know exactly who's in the group -- a motley crew of 95 writers for overseas publications -- and the go-to joke has evolved into more or less what Robert DeNiro said while accepting his Cecil B. DeMille Award for career achievement last night: "The important thing is that we are all in this together: the people who make the movies, and the Press Association members who in turn pose for pictures with the movie stars." (The group was sued last week by its former publicist for running what amounted to a massive, ongoing payola scheme, selling nominations for bribes and giving lesser-known media outlets good spots on the red carpet in exchange for cash payments.) 
 
 Second, it’s not as though the Golden Globes ceremony had much dignity to lose. Stars attend and viewers watch not in spite of the event's junior-prom after-party atmosphere, but because of it. On the Oscars and Emmy broadcasts, it’s a big deal when people go off-script, act like fools, or bite the hands that feed them. On the Globes telecast, we expect such behavior and feel disappointed if we don’t get oodles of it. 
 
 First, gleeful needling has been that comic’s stock-in-trade for about two decades, and the awards show’s governing body, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, hired Gervais to host the broadcast in 2010 as well. Unless you're a complete dunderhead, you don’t invite a scorpion into your tent without expecting him to sting you, especially after inviting him in exactly one year earlier and getting stung 23 times in the face. 
 
 The telecast reminded me of the last 30 minutes of a Friar’s Club roast, when the facade of good-natured ribbing has disintegrated and you're left with the spectacle of sadomasochists whipping each other, only it was like that all the way through -- an orgy of hatred and self-hatred interrupted by flashes of warmth, pride, nostalgia and wit, like pretty much any other awards show telecast times 10. From the instant Gervais kicked things off with a description of Charlie Sheen’s thug high jinks (Bold humor! Risky, too!), to his mention of presenter Robert Downey Jr.'s past drug addiction and jail stint (Bolder still!), to the final zoom-out over Gervais exclaiming, "Thank you to God for making me an atheist!" (OK, actually bold) the show was awkward and sour -- and not just because Gervais was behind the podium, doing his patented Lovable Dick routine (but a tad more lazily than before, and with greater vanity; no more self-directed fat jokes for this slimmed-down clown). 
 
 At the same time, however, the show was sort of amazing, because it captured the mix of naive sentimentality and rancid cynicism that defines showbiz -- and the audience's relationship to showbiz. The 68th annual Globes proved, more vividly than the mostly staid and self-mythologizing Oscar and Emmy broadcasts, that there is, in fact, a Hollywood community, that its members truly do respect one another for all kinds of reasons, and that when you put a few hundred of its most popular and/or accomplished denizens in the same ballroom, there’s a chance that the tribal hierarchies will dissolve for a few hours and they’ll see each other not as enemies, obstacles or undeserving slugs, but as peers and inspirations. ("I can’t believe we’re sitting at a table with Al Pacino, either!" said Terence Winter, accepting the best dramatic series award for his HBO series "Boardwalk Empire.") 
 
 And yet this very same group will summon the self-doubt and self-loathing that’s also a part of entertainment and project it through your TV screen in waves -- the deep-rooted fear that maybe success is less about talent than who you know and who you’ve screwed, and whether you’re strong enough to endure rejection and lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time; that perhaps this industry really is as childish, shallow and sleazy as everybody says; and that the Golden Globes -- and perhaps by extension all showbiz awards -- are so corrupt and worthless that they deserve to be mocked and reviled by the likes of Gervais. (As Humphrey Bogart snarled at Peter Lorre in "The Maltese Falcon," "When you're slapped, you'll take it and like it!") 
 
 Robert Downey Jr. zapped Gervais with the wittiest of the night’s aggrieved counterattacks -- "Aside from the fact that it's been hugely mean-spirited with vaguely sinister undertones, I’d say the vibe of the show has been pretty good so far, wouldn’t you?" -- then introduced the nominees for best actress in a comedy or musical with a meandering riff about how he’s tried to sleep with all of them. (Nothing mean-spirited or vaguely sinister there.) The crowd applauded actress Melissa Leo’s award as best supporting drama actress for "The Fighter," then chortled like a bunch of second graders when she thanked the film’s director, David O. Russell, for casting her "after those few hours we spent in the Maritime Hotel." ("No, no, no, no, you don’t know what kind of girl I am!" Leo exclaimed. "It’s all work, man!") And would you say it's time for Gervais to drop the "I created the original English version of 'The Office,' and now these money-grubbing Americans are ruining it" shtick? Yes, I know, it's all in jest, and it was funny the first 4,378 times he did it, but it's started to wear a bit thin now -- and when he did it yet again while introducing the NBC version's outgoing star, Steve Carell, the actor's characteristic blank-slate deadpan cracked open to reveal what looked like actual resentment. ("Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha," said Carell. "It never gets old.") 
 
 It was the sort of evening where such driven, prideful perfectionists as David Fincher, Paul Giamatti, Jane Lynch and Katy Sagal could seem genuinely self-deprecating while accepting their awards (and in Lynch’s case, hilarious, too), and "Glee" co-writer and co-producer Ian Brennan (Lynch’s personal dialogue writer) could thank the underpaid public schoolteachers of America without seeming like a phony. And it was the sort of evening where Downey, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and even HFPA boss Philip Berk could ream the host for being a vicious snot and hypocritical bully ("Next time you want me to help you qualify your movies, go to another guy," Berk snapped, after Gervais joked about lifting him off the toilet and putting in his false teeth) while the broadcast’s guest of honor, De Niro, could joke that the ongoing scandal had caused members of the group to be deported "along with most of the waiters ... and Javier Bardem." (None of Gervais’ jokes were bleeped, but something got cut out of the middle of De Niro’s speech, right around the point where he mentioned the titles of films that weren’t represented in his tribute reel; I’m guessing it was a joke about the corruption allegations that was censored for legal reasons, something along the lines of "Christ, maybe the check didn’t clear.") 
 
 The extremes of charm and rancor, affection and venom were all of a piece. There were no transcendently awesome moments along the lines of Ving Rhames giving his award to Jack Lemmon in 1998, but the mix of moods and attitudes was something to see. And the best bits of writing and delivery suggested that -- contrary to Gervais' rather disappointing example -- it is, in fact, possible to be sour and sweet at the same time. 
 
 Maybe Robert Downey Jr. should host next year, with De Niro as his sidekick. ||||| Meryl Streep gave a powerful, politically charged speech at the Golden Globes and, while it was obvious whom she was speaking about, never mentioned Donald Trump by name. 
 
 In response, President-Elect Donald Trump made a series of tweets dismissing Meryl Streep as overrated. 
 
 And thus the Hollywood vs. politics debate rages on, now perhaps in a discourse more churlish and on a platform more undignified than ever. 
 
 Spurned by a petulant outburst by the incoming commander-in-chief, an obtuse tweet from John McCain’s daughter, teed-up yacking by Kellyanne Conway on Fox News, and a prevailing frustration over actors constantly espousing their politics in public arenas—a frustration that deserves to be validated—there is backlash over Meryl Streep’s acceptance speech at the Golden Globe Awards Sunday night. 
 
 Enough. 
 
 If we’re going to shine a spotlight on things that are tired, it is not the practice of celebrities talking about politics. It is the practice of complaining about that. 
 
 Here’s a brief recap of the debate. 
 
 Meryl Streep was given a lifetime achievement award Sunday night. Her speech commanded the room, with the Oscar winner eschewing the opportunity to express polite gratitude and toss off some witty quips to instead make a call to arms from her peers in Hollywood. 
 
 She brought up the incident in which Trump appeared to mock a disabled reporter—something he denied doing again in an interview with The New York Times and in his tweet tirade, but which there is video evidence of—and used the anecdote as the catalyst for a plea for greater empathy, from the people in the highest position in the world to those sitting in the ballroom to us watching at home. 
 
 Trump scoffed at the speech as pandering from a “Hillary flunky who lost big.” He called Meryl Streep, who was at the Globes to accept the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award for a career that has included 3 Oscars, 9 Golden Globes, and the branding as the Greatest Actress of All-Time, “overrated.” 
 
 (Perhaps, just perhaps, a person who purports to be in the business of uniting our nation could do better in that pursuit than disparaging Meryl Streep’s acting chops.) 
 
 Trump’s message—that he was attacked unfairly—was amplified by his supporters, who continue to insist that politics should be kept out of the mouths of celebrities. 
 
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 Meghan McCain, daughter of Senator John McCain and frequent TV commentator, tweeted earlier in the night that, “This Meryl Streep speech is why Trump won. And if people in Hollywood don’t start recognizing why and how – you will help him get re-elected.” 
 
 Presumably she was referencing a sense of exhaustion over people in privileged positions presuming that their opinions merit public forums, and that Hollywood’s vocal support of Hillary Clinton irritated voters enough to flee in the other direction—that the optics of Clinton’s high-powered, rich and famous friends meant she was out of touch with the needs of everyday people. 
 
 It’s always been a confusing notion, particularly in comparison to mogul and reality star Donald Trump. 
 
 There’s also the idea that they’re “just celebrities,” that they don’t have any expertise on these issues and have no right to speak authoritatively on them. To that, as journalist Glenn Greenwald aptly inquired in a tweet that’s being circulated Monday morning, “Why are actors less qualified to comment on political issues than, say, cable TV or talk radio hosts? Never understood this rationale.” 
 
 Sure, like anyone who has passionate feelings on an issue and a microphone to share them from, people in Hollywood—liberals or otherwise—hope their message is heard by people with opposing views, that they digest it and consider it. 
 
 But the idea that Meryl Streep was unaware that she was speaking to a ballroom of friendly ears misunderstands what I gathered to be her intention. 
 
 She was speaking to a room full of celebrities whose politics she knows, about a frustration she knew they felt. Assumptions from tweets like McCain’s insinuating that Hollywood liberals don’t realize they’re in a bubble, or that Trump voters don’t like them, are ridiculous. 
 
 Streep made a plea to stand up against bullying, for dignity in power, and advocated for the arts. The catalyst for her plea was the election of Donald Trump. Of course it was. Streep, in addition to much of the Globes attendees, made no secret of her support of Hillary Clinton and her lack of respect for Trump and what he stands for. 
 
 Why would anyone be surprised that a Hollywood liberal made such a plea at an event celebrating Hollywood liberals? 
 
 “She didn’t change anyone’s minds” is the critique most commonly charged against her speech Monday morning. She wasn’t trying to change minds, or campaign for anything. She was calling to action people whose politics she already knew aligned with her own, whom she hoped she could motivate to take a stand for something meaningful. 
 
 Maybe that’s what made Sunday’s awards telecast seem so tonally off. 
 
 These events are typically characterized by cheerleading: for Obama, for their shared politics, for Hillary or against Trump, and, most often, for themselves. That kind of positive, unanimous energy is what made room for silly distractions and goofy bits like the ones host Jimmy Fallon tried to stage. But when the room no longer wanted to cheer—politically or otherwise—and instead set a more somber tone, the producers didn’t know how to reconcile that. 
 
 But to make the case that politics shouldn’t have been a part of the show entirely? C’mon. 
 
 People who continually say Hollywood and awards shouldn’t be platforms for politics and social justice need a new script. Have you seen an award show in the last 40-some years? It’s nothing new, and it’s not going to change. 
 
 Stretch back to Marlon Brandon inviting Sacheen Littlefeather on stage in 1973 all the way up to Boyhood’s Patricia Arquette urging for gender pay equality in 2014, with stops at every Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Sally Field, Michael Moore, Leonardo DiCaprio, and George Clooney in between. 
 
 If “know your audience” is a critique lobbied against Streep, “know your show” is applicable to those still upset about the confluence of Hollywood and politics. 
 
 Hollywood and politics, by the way: a copulation that inseminated Donald Trump and birthed his public career, and a topic he seemingly can’t stop tweeting about. 
 
 This is an industry that Trump has desperately wanted to be included in and welcomed by. There are the dozens and dozens of TV show and movie cameos he made, award shows he attended, and photos he took at parties with celebrities. He desperately wanted to win an Emmy and still complains that he didn't. All he has to show for his showbiz yearning is a Razzie award and an inauguration at which no one will perform. 
 
 It’s no wonder he’s taken to calling Meryl Streep overrated. And it’s no wonder Meryl Streep feels compelled to speak out. ||||| Jimmy Kimmel made the most of his Oscars debut with a hilarious opening monologue. 
 
 The gag-filled introduction saw digs dished out at Mel Gibson, Donald Trump and Meryl Streep, as well as obviously continuing the funniest feud on television with Matt Damon. 
 
 We have rounded up the best jokes from the monologue for your entertainment. 
 
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 On Mel Gibson: "There's only one Braveheart in this room and he's not going to unite us either. Mel, you look great, I think the Scientology is working." 
 
 On Matt Damon: "He's a selfish person, but Matt did something very unselfish and I wanted to commend him for it. He could have starred in Manchester By The Sea but he didn't: he gave that role to childhood friend Casey Affleck, and made a Chinese ponytail movie instead. That movie went on to lose $80 million dollars. Smooth move, dumbass." 
 
 © Universal 
 
 On President Trump: "I want to say thank you to President Trump. Remember last year when they thought the Oscars were racist?" 
 
 On Best Picture nominees Hidden Figures and La La Land: "Black people save NASA and white people saved jazz. That's what you call progress." 
 
 On Best Picture nominee Moonlight: "The only happy ending in all of the nominees was the one in the middle of Moonlight." 
 
 © A24 
 
 On Best Actress nominee Isabelle Huppert: "She is nominated for Elle and on behalf of everyone here, we didn't see Elle but we absolutely loved it. I'm glad Homeland Security let you in tonight." 
 
 On Meryl Streep: "One actress stands out for her many uninspiring and overrated performances. Meryl Streep has phoned it in in more than 50 films in her lacklustre career. Nice dress by the way – is that an Ivanka?" 
 
 © Getty Images 
 
 Before the Oscars, Kimmel was given the worst pep talk ever by Morgan Freeman in a brilliant teaser, as well as revealing how much he was paid to host the ceremony. 
 
 Apparently, he's getting $15,000 (around £12,000) for the night and joked that he might not have been the first choice: "They asked like 14 people and they all said no and then there was me." 
 
 Follow the winners as they come in on our live blog. 
 
 Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Twitter account and you're all set. ||||| Well, the big night is finally here! The 2017 Oscars have begun, and your host for the evening Jimmy Kimmel has taken the stage. 
 
 Interested in Oscars? Add Oscars as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Oscars news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Add Interest 
 
 In his opening monologue, the late-night host did not hold back, poking fun at President Donald Trump, close friend and pretend-enemy Matt Damon, and even Denzel Washington. 
 
 Kimmel immediately addressed the elephant in the room, noting that many people had told him to address the schism in the country. "I can't do that," he said. 
 
 "There's only one 'Braveheart' in the room," he said of Oscar-winner Mel Gibson, who is nominated again this year for his new film "Hacksaw Ridge." "And he's not going to unite us either," he added as the crowd laughed. 
 
 Kimmel got more serious when he said that if everyone watching right now "took a moment to reach out to one person you disagree with and have a positive, considerate conversation ... we could really make America great again." 
 
 But just as quick, the host's jokes began rolling again. Kimmel feigned as if he wanted to bury the hatchet with Matt Damon before making fun of the actor's choice to pass up starring in "Manchester by the Sea" only to star in a "Chinese ponytail movie instead and that movie went on to lose $80 million. Smooth move dumba---." 
 
 "When I first met Matt, I was the fat one," he also joked. 
 
 Kimmel's first crack on Trump was thanking him because, "remember when last year the Oscars were considered racist?" 
 
 After picking on Oscar nominee Denzel Washington for directing himself in the film "Fences," he teased French actress and nominee Isabelle Huppert. 
 
 "We didn't see 'Elle,' but we absolutely loved it," he said. "I'm glad Homeland Security let you in tonight," he added, a joke apparently about Trump's order restricting entry into the U.S. of people from seven Muslim-majority countries which has been put on hold by the courts. 
 
 Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP 
 
 Finally, Kimmel closed with a riff on Meryl Streep, the actress who is nominated for her 20th Oscar this year whom Trump called overrated after she gave a speech at the Golden Globes that criticized the president without naming him. 
 
 "One actress has stood the test of time for her many uninspiring and overrated performances," he said. "[She's] phoned it in for more than 50 films. This is Meryl's 20th Oscar nomination ... she wasn't even in a movie this year, we just wrote her name in out of habit." 
 
 He closed with, "Some of you will [win tonight] and give a speech that the president of the United States will tweet about in all caps." 
 
 Now on to the winners, speeches and skits!
– This year's Golden Globes ceremony turned out to be quite the political affair, and Sunday's Oscars will likely be no different, especially with Donald Trump critic Meryl Streep in attendance. Here's what to expect: Will host Jimmy Kimmel mention Trump? It's a safe bet. He tells the New York Times he likes to talk about "what people are talking about," and Trump "is Topic No. 1, 2 and 4" at the dinner table. Stars appearing on stage are likely to reference Trump, too, reports the BBC. It lists Streep as one of several celebrities that might make a political statement. Mahershala Ali and Casey Affleck are two others. Should they use their time on stage to talk politics, they certainly won't be the first. The Verge looks at the historical role of politics at the Oscars, but notes that while a political speech is generally accepted today, it wasn't always that way. The Los Angeles Times likewise identifies the 11 "most notable political moments" at the Oscars, including the time in 1993 that Richard Gere opted to discuss China. The list gives the impression that such moments are becoming more frequent. But no matter what happens at this year's ceremony, there's a good chance Trump won't like what he sees. He tweeted frequently about previous shows, and the New York Daily News rounds up some of his slams, including: "I should host the #Oscars to shake things up—this is not good!" in 2014, when Ellen DeGeneres was hosting.