Iranian news websites published cartoonist Bozorgmehr Hosseinpour’s sketch depicting Farhadi playing chess and using a small Oscar statue to knock out an unseen’s opponent’s last chess piece, a figure resembling Trump.In a statement read out at the Oscars ceremony on his behalf by Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian-American astronaut, Farhadi said the empathy filmmakers can foster is needed today more than ever. In a statement read on his behalf, Farhadi said he was boycotting the ceremony "out of respect for the people of my country and those of the other six nations who have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the U.S."

"Dividing the world into 'us' and 'our enemies' categories creates fear, a deceitful justification for aggression and war," the statement said. The ban not only led to Farhadi announcing that he would not attend the awards in protest of the ban, targeted toward predominantly Muslim countries, including Iran, but also to an unprecedented show of solidary between the six nominated directors in the foreign language category. They said that no matter who won, the award would be dedicated to people working to foster “unity and understanding.”

“Dividing the world into ‘us’ and ‘enemies’ categories creates fear,” Ansari continued in Farhadi’s statement, which concluded with a passionate defense of the power of film to create empathy “between us and others, an empathy that we need today.”

Backstage, Naderi said that Farhadi could have chosen any number of prominent Iranians to represent him at the Oscars, but that he chose two scientists who focus on space because, “if you go away from the earth and look back at the earth you don’t see the borders and the lines.”

“The Salesman” won over the early favorite, “Toni Erdmann,” which in already in the early stages of development for an English language remake starring Jack Nicholson and Kristen Wii, Sweden’s “A Man Called Ove,” Denmark’s “Land of Mine,” and Australia’s “Tanna.”
The Salesman directed by Asghar Farhadi won Best Foreign Language Film. Farhadi and other film crew did not attend the ceremony in protest of Donald Trump's visa ban. First Iranian in space Anousheh Ansari and scienist Firouz Naderi attended in place of Farhadi.