Step aside, Ellen! It’s Leo’s time to shine. Leonardo DiCaprio winning best actor at the 2016 Academy Awards on Sunday, February 28, surpassed Ellen DeGeneres‘ record-breaking selfie from the 2014 Oscars in terms of tweets, the social media platform announced shortly after the broadcast ended.
DiCaprio, 41, finally winning the Oscar after six total nominations, resulted in 440,000 tweets a minute. Previous record-holder DeGeneres garnered 255,000 tweets a minute two years ago when she hosted the awards show and took a star-packed selfie with Angelina Jolie Pitt, Brad Pitt, Bradley Cooper, Julia Roberts, Lupita Nyong’o and others.
If only Bradley’s arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars pic.twitter.com/C9U5NOtGap
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) March 3, 2014
The Revenant actor also took to Twitter himself to thank the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Sunday night following his long-awaited victory.
Thank you to the Academy and the incredible cast & crew of #TheRevenant. #Oscars
— Leonardo DiCaprio (@LeoDiCaprio) February 29, 2016
Backstage of the Dolby Theatre, DiCaprio spoke to Us Weekly and other reporters about his accomplishment — and the tremendous reaction from supporters.
“It all feels incredibly surreal, because you can’t reach out and physically meet everybody,” he said. “You hear it on the internet, you hear it from other people, and we always strive for the best in what we do. But this year in particular, I’ve been overwhelmed with such support,” DiCaprio said. “Really, truly, [I’ve had support from] so many fans and so many people in the industry, it’s quite shocking, actually. And what can you say except I’m very grateful, I really am.”
Watch his acceptance speech in the video above.
