WATCH: Derek Chauvin verdict takes center stage at Academy Awards

Black Lives Matter was center stage at the 93rd Academy Awards.

"It has been a quit a year and we are still smack dab in the middle of it," said "One Night in Miami" director Regina King at the begin of the program.

"We are mourning the loss of so many and I have to be honest, if things had gone differently this past week in Minneapolis, I might have traded in my heals for marching boots," she noted.

"Now, I know that a lot of you people at home want to reach for your remote when you feel like Hollywood is preaching to you—but as a mother of a Black son, I know the fear that so many live with, and no amount of fame or fortune changes that," she explained. "Okay?"