Trevor Noah absolutely blasts Mel Gibson during 'Black Panther' speech at the Oscars

Every year, the Oscars draws in millions of viewers - most of whom are there to check out the outfits, the acceptance speeches, and, of course, which films have been deemed to be the best of the year. For the controversy queens amongst us, though, the main appeal is the fresh celebrity drama that inevitably crops up in acceptance speeches and red carpet shade.

This year, there were a number of choice moments to dig into (*cough* Lady Gaga cozying up to Bradley Cooper in front of his girlfriend *cough*), but one deliciously awkward moment stole the evening for many people: Trevor Noah's dig at Mel Gibson.

Noah, who hosts the Daily Show, was on stage to present a clip of Best Picture nominee Black Panther, which went on to win Best Costume Design and Best Production Design during the evening. He used his time to talk about how the film has been a huge win for Black people - but also the diverse audience-base it appealed to.

Credit: 1319

"Black Panther may be an African hero, but his story and his appeal are universal," Noah said during his introductory speech. "I know this personally because of all the people that constantly come up to me and say, ‘Wakanda Forever!’"

Noah then went on to say that Gibson, who has infamously made some racist remarks in the past, was one of those people.

"Mel Gibson came up to me like, ‘Wakanda Forever.’ He said another word after that, but the Wakanda part was nice," the comedian jibed.

His comment was perhaps a callback to a 2011 incident, during which Gibson was recorded telling his former partner that she would be to blame if she got "raped by a pack of n*****s".

The joke was obviously a sensitive one, but Twitter admired Noah's guts.

Meanwhile, however, other people were more focused on Noah speaking Xhosa - an Nguni Bantu language used in the 35-year-old's native country, South Africa.

He also snuck in a secret joke for fellow Xhosa speakers, and translated one phrase as, "In times like these, we are stronger when we fight together than when we try to fight apart." What he actually said, though, was: "White people don’t know I’m lying."

Needless to say, Noah was given an incredibly influential platform in being chosen to introduce Black Panther - and he used it impeccably well. Gibson might not have been too happy about it (nor were a number of other audience members), but Noah's fans - and, more importantly, fans that Black Panther was actually made for - seemed to absolutely loved it.