(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
The awards and the ceremony is pretty meaningless in and of themselves. However, if a movie wins, then everyone involved gets a middling to huge pay raise on their next project. The idea for a lot of these people is to get up there, say something semi-memorable and/or gracious, sit back down and have your agent begin negotiations for the next project.
If some actor gets up there and says something controversial, then his pay could drop significantly.