Chicago writer Graham Moore cheered for ‘stay weird’ Oscar speech

SHARE Chicago writer Graham Moore cheered for ‘stay weird’ Oscar speech

Chicago native Graham Moore, winner of the best adapted screenplay Oscar for writing “The Imitation Game,” drew a huge ovation for his uplifting acceptance speech Sunday night.

The writer lamented that Alan Turing, the gay World War II codebreaker at the movie’s center, never got to enjoy a moment of glory like his, “and that’s the most unfair thing I think I’ve ever heard.”

Moore went on to make a confession: He had tried to kill himself at age 16.

“I felt weird and I felt different and I felt like I didn’t belong,” said Moore, a graduate of University of Chicago Lab School in Hyde Park. “And now I’m standing here, so I would like 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.”

Moore’s mother, Susan Sher, is first lady Michelle Obama’s former chief of staff and currently heads the site-selection process for President Obama’s future presidential library.

“I was a tremendous computer nerd,” Moore tells Bill Zwecker

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