Graham Moore Oscar Speech VIDEO: “When I Was 16, I Tried To Kill Myself,” But There’s Hope And You Should “Stay Weird”

Graham Moore won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Imitation Game at Sunday’s Academy Awards, and used his acceptance speech to deliver a powerful message about perseverance and individuality. Watch the video below.

Alan Turing, the subject of The Imitation Game, was gay but closeted, and even though he helped win World War II with his intellectual brilliance, his persecution over his sexuality destroyed his life. Moore excitedly thanked presenter Oprah Winfrey and others as he began his speech, but then used the film’s material to make a much more personal statement:

Alan Turing never got to stand on a stage like this and look out on all of these disconcertingly attractive faces, and I do, and that’s the most unfair thing I think I’ve ever heard. So in this brief time here, what I want to use it to do is to say this.

When I was 16 years old, I tried to kill myself, because I felt weird, and I felt different, and I felt like I did not belong. And now I’m standing here, and I would like for this moment to be for that kid out there who feels like she’s weird or she’s different or she doesn’t fit in anywhere. Yes, you do. I promise you do. Stay weird, stay different, and then when it’s your turn, and you are standing on this stage, please pass the message to the next person who comes along.

Moore’s speech made waves on social media, and #StayWeird began to trend on Twitter. Watch the video of the moment below, and tell us what you think.