At the 86th Academy Awards on March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, host Ellen DeGeneres walked into the audience during a comic bit and set out to take the most retweeted photo in history. She started with Meryl Streep, then called over Julia Roberts, Channing Tatum and others, telling them to lean in. The group grew so large that Bradley Cooper knelt in front of her and took the picture with her phone.

The photo shows Cooper, DeGeneres, Streep, Roberts, Tatum, Jennifer Lawrence, Jared Leto, Kevin Spacey, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Lupita Nyong'o and her brother, Peter Nyong'o Jr. DeGeneres posted it during a break with the caption "If only Bradley's arm was longer. Best photo ever." Moments later, Nyong'o won Best Supporting Actress for 12 Years a Slave, which also won Best Picture that night.

The tweet passed one million retweets in under an hour and more than two million before midnight, breaking the record…