Webbys
A scotch-swigging Patton Oswalt set the tone for the 18th Annual Webby Awards with an opening monologue that pulled no punches when it came to the sometimes bizarre world of the web.
"Webby Award winners are some of the most popular people on the internet ... in clothing," he quipped to the delight of the tech insiders and winners in the crowd at Cipriani Wall Street on Monday, May 19.
Oswalt used his opening monologue (which you can watch here) to call out the FCC for its latest go at killing net neutrality - and to issue his battle cry for the internet's future. "Keep it free, keep it dangerous," he said.
Among the night's many Webby recipients were Special Achievement winners such as hip-hop trio De La Soul, who accepted the Artist of the Year Award from Questlove; Lawrence Lessig, cofounder of Creative Commons, who received a Webby Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Alexis Ohanian (and got a rousing standing ovation); and the Jamaican bobsled team, which accepted the award for Webby Athlete of the Year from NBA star Jason Collins.
It was also a fantastic night for the Webby Awards' hallmark 5-Word Speeches, about which Kevin Spacey once said, "The Oscars should do this." As always, speeches ran the gamut from inspiring to outlandish. The crowd erupted when George Takei delivered his ("Shatner, eat your heart out") and when NASA astronaut Mike Massimino cried, "We're taking this to Mars!"
Banksy, the Webby Person of the Year, was introduced by the legendary Patti Smith and delivered his 5-Word Speech through Oswalt, who pulled a paint-smeared piece of paper from an envelope and said, "Oh, somebody painted over it."
In an especially moving moment, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the internet, stood up to defend the web he invented 25 years ago - and to rally everyone around the need to fight for it.
"In this particular country, where we happen to be right now, the battle must rage again," he said to resounding cheers. Watch the video here.
All highlights from the show are available at youtube.com/TheWebbyAwards, and you can be notified about future video highlights by subscribing to the Webby Awards' YouTube channel. After all, the 19th Annual Webby Awards are only a year away.
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