“When we talk about Black excellence, we’re talking about Quincy.” Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey pay tribute to the late Quincy Jones

Quincy Jones was honored with a moving musical tribute during the 2025 Oscars Sunday night.

Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg, co-stars in Jones’ 1985 film “The Color Purple,” led the tribute the legendary music producer, who died at the age of 91 in November 2024.

Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey speak onstage during the 97th Annual Oscars March 2, 2025 in Hollywood.Kevin Winter/Getty Images

The tribute continued with a performance by Queen Latifah, who performed “Ease on Down the Road” from “The Wiz” in front of the Oscars audience.

Queen Latifah performs onstage during the 97th Annual Oscars at Dolby Theatre, on March 2, 2025, in Hollywood, Calif.Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Prior to the ceremony, executive producer and showrunner Raj Kapoor previewed the tribute to Jones in a press conference as a “beautiful moment that we hope will uplift the room, that will celebrate the spirit of Quincy and all of his greatness.”

Jones was nominated for seven Oscars during his career, including three for “The Color Purple.” For that project he earned nods in the categories of best original score, best original song for “Miss Celie’s Blues (Sister)” and best picture.

Music producer Quincy Jones poses for a portrait to promote his documentary “Quincy” during the Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 7, 2018, in Toronto.Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Jones was honored at the 67th Academy Awards with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, which was presented to him by Oprah Winfrey. In his speech accepting the Oscar, Jones said, “It’s nice to feel important. I think maybe a bit more important to be nice, though.”