The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd and directed by Glenn Weiss.

[4] In related events, the academy held its 8th Annual Governors Awards ceremony at the Grand Ballroom of the Hollywood and Highland Center on November 12, 2016.

[24] Viola Davis became the first black person to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting with her Oscar, Emmy, and Tony wins.

[26][27][28] Kevin O'Connell finally ended the longest losing streak in Oscar history after 20 unsuccessful nominations for sound mixing, winning for Hacksaw Ridge.

[39][40] Due to the mixed reception and low ratings of the previous year's ceremony, producers David Hill and Reginald Hudlin declined to helm the Oscar production.

[45] Kimmel expressed that it was truly an honor and a thrill to be asked to host Academy Awards, commenting "Mike and Jennifer have an excellent plan and their enthusiasm is infectious.

Instead, ABC aired Live from Hollywood: The After Party, co-hosted by Anthony Anderson and Lara Spencer of Good Morning America.

[49] When the nominations were announced, Arrival was the highest-grossing film among the Best Picture nominees with $95.7 million in domestic box office receipts.

[56] In the previous two years, the awards had come under scrutiny for the lack of racial diversity among the nominees in major categories, which included no actors of color being nominated.

[64] A skit performed during the ceremony, in which a group of tourists enter the theater, led to criticism of host Kimmel when he was accused of mocking an Asian woman's name.

[72] Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, who won the award for Best Foreign Language Film for The Salesman, was revealed to initially be unable to attend the ceremony due to President Donald Trump's immigration ban.

He boycotted the event, saying, "I have decided to not attend the Academy Awards ceremony alongside my fellow members of the cinematic community.

"[74] Two prominent Iranian Americans – engineer Anousheh Ansari, known as the first female space tourist, and Firouz Naderi, a former director of Solar Systems Exploration at NASA – accepted Asghar Farhadi's Oscar on his behalf at the ceremony.

[75] Congratulations which had initially been tweeted to the Iranian people from the US State Department's official Persian-language Twitter account were deleted following the acceptance speech given by Firouz Naderi in which President Trump's travel ban was described as "inhumane".

[76] Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway came onstage to present the award for Best Picture, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Bonnie and Clyde.

[79][80] Beatty was then given the correct opened envelope as La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz stepped to the microphone, announced the error, stated that Moonlight had actually won the award, and took the card bearing the film's title from Beatty's hand and showed it to the camera and the audience as proof.

Video stills from the broadcast show that Beatty and Dunaway had been given the single remaining still-unopened backup envelope for the Best Actress award as they walked onto the stage.

Variety television critic Sonia Saraiya praised Kimmel's performance writing that he "found a way to balance the telecast between that sensibility – the treacly self-satisfaction of sweeping orchestrals and tap dancing starlets.

[96] The American telecast on ABC drew an average of 33 million people over its length, which was a 4% decrease from the previous year.

[10] The show also earned lower Nielsen ratings compared to the previous ceremony with 22.4% of households watching over a 36 share.

[102] The annual "In Memoriam" segment was introduced by Jennifer Aniston, with Sara Bareilles performing a rendition of the Joni Mitchell song "Both Sides, Now" during the montage.