Even if he lost out on best director to Alfonso Cuarón, Spike Lee had a great Oscars night. And not just because Sunday was the night that he finally won his first competitive award—best adapted screenplay, for BlacKkKlansman. (In 2015, the Academy honored Lee with a lifetime-achievement award.) More importantly, it just seemed like Lee was having a lot of fun.

His night started off amusingly, if quietly, thanks to an excellent editing choice on the Academy’s part. As presenters John Mulaney and Awkwafina joked about being starstruck while handing out the award for best animated short, they playfully named stars they were nervous to meet on the red carpet—including Lee. “I saw Spike Lee and I was like, what?” Awkwafina said. Immediately, the telecast cut to Lee—and his deadpan response was, shall we say, a very large mood.

Then came Lee’s win—a moment that will probably be forever remembered by an instantly viral image of the director jumping to embrace frequent collaborator Samuel L. Jackson. Again—very emotional stuff here, to say the least.

But the pièce de résistance might have to be when Lee literally leapt out of his seat during Barbra Streisand’s speech. As Babs was presenting BlacKkKlansman’s best-picture clip, she couldn’t help but note their shared Brooklyn upbringing—a shout-out that immediately earned an effusive reaction from Lee.

The Academy has not always done right by Lee. As BlacKkKlansman prepared to face off against Green Book, several critics remembered the time, not that long ago, when Driving Miss Daisy won out over Do the Right Thing—a choice that some argued would closely parallel the message that would be sent, should Green Book win over BlacKkKlansman, which it did.

Lee reportedly tried to leave the Dolby Theater when Green Book was announced as the year’s best picture winner, and reportedly looked visibly angry at the result—but by the time he went backstage to answer press questions, he had evidently decided to deal with the win by giving a master class in shade.

At one point in the press room, the director theatrically sipped champagne rather than verbally answering a question about the controversial Green Book’s best picture win. “Let me take another sip,” he replied coyly, before taking a few steps away from his microphone, returning to it and playfully shouting, “Next question!”

He gave an even spicier response when speaking with two reporters who asked Lee if there’s something about Green Book that offends him. “Are you British?” the director asked. Each answered in the affirmative. “Let me give you a British answer: wasn’t my cup of tea,” Lee cracked. Then the director began cackling and hopping around with glee—proving that even in defeat, he was still the night’s one and only M.V.P.

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