DiCaprio's 2016 Golden Globe Speech for Indigenous Peoples

When Leonardo DiCaprio won the Golden Globe for best actor in a drama on 10 January 2016, for his role as the frontiersman Hugh Glass in The Revenant, he ended his acceptance speech by dedicating the award to First Nations people and Indigenous communities around the world. He called for their history to be recognised and for Indigenous lands to be protected from corporate interests and exploitation. The short dedication, only a few sentences long, became one of the most shared moments of the night.

Here is the context: what happened at the ceremony, why the dedication fitted the film, how it connects to DiCaprio’s wider activism, and what came next.

The 2016 Golden Globes at a glance

The 73rd Golden Globe Awards were held at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, with Ricky Gervais as host. DiCaprio won best actor in a motion picture drama ahead of Bryan Cranston (Trumbo), Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs), Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl) and Will Smith (Concussion).

It was a big night for the film overall. The Revenant also took best motion picture drama, and Alejandro G. Iñárritu won best director. Those wins made DiCaprio a clear favourite for the Academy Awards a few weeks later, after years in which his near-misses at the Oscars had become a running joke online.

What he said

DiCaprio spent most of his time at the microphone thanking the cast, crew and Iñárritu. In the closing moments he turned to a different audience. He said he wanted to share the award with the First Nations people represented in the film and with Indigenous communities worldwide, adding that it was time to recognise their history, protect their lands from those who would exploit them, and listen to their voices for the sake of future generations.

The clip spread quickly on social media the same night. For many viewers it was a rare moment in which a mainstream awards show acknowledged Indigenous peoples directly, rather than as a backdrop to someone else’s story.

Why the dedication fitted The Revenant

The Revenant is partly based on Michael Punke’s 2002 novel about Hugh Glass, a fur trapper left for dead after a bear attack in 1823. The story is set during the Arikara War in what are now the Dakotas, and Indigenous characters are central to it.

Several Indigenous actors had significant roles, including Forrest Goodluck as Glass’s son Hawk, Duane Howard as Elk Dog, Melaw Nakehk’o as Powaqa, Arthur Redcloud as Hikuc, and Grace Dove as Glass’s wife. The production used Arikara and Pawnee dialogue and hired cultural consultants and two linguists.

Indigenous reaction to the film itself was mixed. Some critics, such as the scholar Leo Killsback, praised its portrayal of Native cultures, and consultant Craig Falcon spoke well of the effort to get details right. Others, including the writer Gyasi Ross, questioned why a story set among Native nations still centred on a white frontiersman. That debate is part of why the speech mattered: it pointed attention beyond the film’s hero to the communities whose history it drew on.

Part of a longer record of activism

The Globes speech was not a one-off. DiCaprio set up the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998 to fund environmental work. In September 2014 the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, named him a UN Messenger of Peace with a focus on climate change, and he addressed the UN Climate Summit later that month.

When he finally won the Oscar for The Revenant on 28 February 2016, he used part of that speech for climate too, telling the audience: “Climate change is real, it is happening right now.” Later that year he produced and presented the documentary Before the Flood, and in October 2016 he joined the actor Mark Ruffalo in backing the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline, a cause in which Indigenous land rights and environmental concerns met directly.

Celebrity speeches: influence and its limits

Award shows reach huge audiences, and a few sentences from a well-known actor can introduce millions of people to an issue they had never thought about. DiCaprio is one of many entertainers who have used a podium this way; Jim Carrey’s 2014 commencement speech is another often-shared example from a different setting.

There are fair criticisms too. Some people object to wealthy stars lecturing audiences, or point out the carbon footprint of a Hollywood lifestyle. Others argue that celebrity attention can crowd out the voices of the people directly affected. A reasonable middle view is that a speech like this is most useful as a doorway: it is worth following it to Indigenous-led organisations, journalists and writers who work on these issues year round.

What happened next

Seven weeks after the Globes, DiCaprio won the Academy Award for best actor, his first Oscar after several previous nominations. The Revenant won three Oscars from twelve nominations, for best director, best actor and Emmanuel Lubezki’s cinematography, and earned about $533 million worldwide.

The Golden Globes dedication is still remembered as the moment he chose to share a personal milestone with communities that are rarely mentioned from that stage. Have celebrity speeches like this ever changed how you think about an issue? Share your view in the comments.

Sources: speech video from the 73rd Golden Globe Awards; earlier coverage by Collective Evolution; 73rd Golden Globe Awards (Wikipedia); The Revenant (2015 film) (Wikipedia); Leonardo DiCaprio (Wikipedia); ABC7, 29 February 2016: DiCaprio wins Best Actor Oscar.

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