Award shows are one my favorite things. And no, I don’t watch all the movies or tv shows or listen to all the music or see all the broadway shows, but to me there is something so glamorous and magical about a night of prestigious awards for entertainers. This year was especially important, as almost every actor and actress wore black in support of the #metoo campaign to bring awareness to sexual assault and to discrimination against women in the workplace. With an ever growing number of actresses stepping forward to call out men, who are also in the industry, who have assaulted them. Most of you have probably heard of Harvey Weinstein in the last few months as actresses such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd, Rose McGowan and many many more women have come forward to accuse Weinstein. Although Weinstein seems to be the most talked about in today’s news, Time Magazine has accounted for over a 100 celebrities and politicians who have been accused of rape, sexual assault, and sexual misconduct. As more brave women come forward to tell their stories, this number can only grow. Throughout the night as awards were accepted, men and women alike spoke their support and passion to end sexual assault everywhere.

The night opens with comedian Seth Meyers as the host. For his opening, Meyers starts the night off with vicious punches at the accused. “Harvey Weinstein isn’t here tonight. Because, well, I’ve heard rumors that he’s crazy and difficult to work with. But don’t worry, he’ll be back in 20 years when he becomes the first person ever booed during the ‘In Memoriam.’” Meyers also makes sure to not forget the young men who have also been affected by sexual assault, throwing a jab at the accused Kevin Spacey who is under scrutiny by 15 young men who say he made inappropriate advances at them at a young age. Meyers also doesn’t waste time to call out our “Stable Genius” of a president, saying the only three words that could make him angrier than the Hollywood Foreign Press would be the “Hillary Mexico Salad Association.”

As the night continued on, acceptance speeches rang with praise with woman who stepped forward to say “Me too”. The first award of the night went to Nicole Kidman, for her work on the hit mini series “Big Little Lies.” For this, she won Best Actress in a mini series. Her speech set the tone for the night. She spoke of how her and her fellow actresses (including her best friend Reese Witherspoon) sat down and “pledged allegiance” to each other and created this show. “Wow,” she says, pausing “The power of women.” She also thanks her family, especially her mother, who was an advocate for women’s rights as Kidman was growing up. Finally, she mentions what I had been thinking as I sat and watched from home. Her character in the show is a victim of abuse, which only seemed fitting for the theme of the night “I do believe, and I hope, we can elicit change through the stories we tell and the way we tell them. Let’s keep the conversation alive.” and With an adorable thanks to her husband, she ended her speech.

Elizabeth Moss won her Best Actress in a TV drama award for “The Handmaid’s Tale”. Being One of the most talked about shows of the year there is no doubt she felt pressure when she walked up on stage to accept her award. Nonetheless, she delivered beautifully. She opened with a quote from Margaret Atwood; “We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edge of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.” She then goes on to tell the audience that this award is for Margaret Atwood, and all women who had the bravery to speak out against injustice and abuse against women. She references Atwood’s quote, saying that we no longer live in the “gaps”; we (women) are the story now.

Laura Dern— who co-starred in “Big Little Lies” with Nicole Kidman— also stood out as she received the award for Best Supporting Actress in a TV series. Her character is the mother of a girl who is being bullied and harassed at school. Very fittingly, she brings up ending the notion that tattling is to be frowned upon, when in fact that is exactly what we need to do right now.  We need to come forward and call out the men who need to be held accountable for their actions. “Many of us were taught not to tattle. It was a culture of silencing, and that was normalized.” Her speech was one of my favorites of the night as she went on to discuss the importance of teaching our children to tell the truth, and to not only to support women who have stepped forward but also to employ them and protect them. “May we teach our children that speaking out without the fear of retribution is our culture’s new North Star.”

The most talked about moment of the night, however, was Oprah Winfrey’s win of the Cecil B. DeMille. Although her win of this award was known before the night even began, nothing could have prepared us for the speech that was to follow. She opened with sharing with the audience how when she was a little girl sitting on the floor of her home watching the oscars and she witnessed Sidney Poitier, the first black man to win best actor in Oscar history. She says she is still trying to explain what that moment meant to her as a young black girl with no money.  Poitier then went on to the win the very award that Oprah was being honored for tonight. She goes on to thank all the people who have supported her over the years and who have helped make her into the woman she is today. She also is sure to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press for continuing to report, even though the press has lately been caught in rough waters.

She then sharply changes tone to talk about a women of the 1940s by the name of Recey Taylor who was raped by 6 white men on her way home from church one day in Alabama. She goes on to tell that although against terrifying threats, Recey managed to reach out to NAACP, where her case was discovered by none other than Rosa Parks. In spite of that, justice was never served for Recey, who recently passed away. “I just hope that Recey Taylor died knowing that her truth, like the truth of so many other women who were tormented in those years, and even now tormented, goes marching on” She closes by saying how she hopes all the girls watching from home are seeing a new horizon in the fight for women’s rights. “And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men, fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say “Me too,” again.” Oprah says, barely audible through the thundering applause.

I deemed the night overall successful in many ways but none more than the joining together of woman to say enough is an enough. I know I am not the only one who hopes to see more Hollywood events that take on the tone that the 75th Golden Globes did.