Last night was the biggest night on the Internet, also known as the 22nd Annual Webby Awards!
The event was jam-packed with awesome moments, from host Amber Ruffin’s hilarious musical number, to a Love Actually reunion, to a special moment from the March for Our Lives organizers and activists, to Jesse Williams and Chris Long using their voices for good, and so much more.
Check out our recap on the star-studded celebration’s best moments, and watch the full show here!
Best of the 22nd Annual Webby Awards
Catch up on the best moments of the 22nd Annual Webby Awards, featuring Adam Sandler, FKA twigs, the March For Our Lives, Jesse Williams, David Harbour, Laura Linney, and more.
Our epic host Amber Ruffin left no digital stone unturned with her opening monologue ripping on everything from Facebook to self-driving cars to identity theft.
In a moment that melted our early 2000s rom-com-loving hearts, Liam Neeson took the stage to present the Webby Best Actress Award to his former Love Actually co-star Laura Linney for her brilliant role in the Netflix series Ozark.
While accepting a Webby Special Achievement Award for his Netflix talk show, Late Night guru David Letterman was so overwhelmed with joy, he was brought to tears (sort of).
Aww… Steve Buscemi (2017 Webby Best Actor) gave a heartfelt opening for longtime friend Adam Sandler, as Sandler accepted a Webby Special Achievement Award for his roster of awesome Netflix films. And he brought his signature humor to his 5-Word Speech, which followed dinner.
One time for the women in tech! Mozilla Executive Chairwoman Mitchell Baker accepted the Webby Lifetime Achievement Award for her pioneering work in open source Internet, and for serving as one of its fiercest advocates. Her 5-Word speech? “Demand better for the Internet.”
We agree.
Major cool alert! From one artist-activist to another, legendary producer Swizz Beatz presented Jesse Williams with a Webby Special Achievement Award for representing black communities in tech and gaming with his app BLeBRiTY, as well as his activism online and off.
While accepting a Webby Special Achievement Award, artist and innovator FKA twigs had a message for humanity expressed in spoken and sign language: “Treat people kindly. Start now.”
From the New York Times, host of The Daily, Michael Barbaro presented a dedicated moment in Podcasts to Deray Mckesson (Pod Save the People); Brian Reed, Whitney Dangerfield, and Neil Drumming (S-Town), and Dylan Marron (Conversations with People Who Hate Me).
Culinary guru David Chang accepted his Webby Special Achievement Award for Ugly Delicious in the best way he knows how, with sarcasm and food references.
During the second half of the show, host Amber Ruffin broke into a Sheila E-inspired song to explain one of tech’s most-beloved subjects: blockchain.
Is your man the kind of man who would win a Webby? Old Spice actor Isaiah Mustafa presented his Tide commercial co-star David Harbour with the Webby Best Actor Award for Stranger Things. Harbour used his 5 words to issue a massively important message on net neutrality.
Think you’d miss the sweet sound of push notifications warning you that there is a suspicious white van in the area? Yeah, neither do we. Each year, The Webbys kills something on the Internet we could use a little less of. Congratulations, push notifications. This year we choose you!
Actors Frederick Weller and Jennifer Ferrin present their boss (and genius director) Steven Soderbergh with a Webby Special Achievement Award for his awesome interactive storytelling app, MOSAIC.
Speaking of advocates, Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Chris Long took the stage to accept the Webby Best Athlete Award for using the Internet to speak out against injustice and provide clean water to communities in need.
Circling back to badass women in tech, host of Recode Decode Kara Swisher gave an amazing tribute to Susan Fowler as the Webby Person of the Year, for her work exposing sexual assault across the tech industry.
In a powerful moment, student organizers from the March for Our Lives, Cameron Kasky and John Barnitt from Parkland, FL, and Naomi Wadler from Alexandria, VA, , took to the Webbys stage to urge those in the tech industry to put an end to systemic gun violence across the country.
Wow, those were pretty big moments from the 22nd Annual Webbys—and, there’s more! Watch the full show at wbby.co/watch and check out The Webby Awards Instagram for a recap on last night’s behind-the-scenes moments.
