The most prominent figure at this year’s Oscar Awards Sunday night was not even there and was not nominated for anything. The consistent center of attention — all of it negative — at the awards ceremony was President Donald Trump. But considering the animosity the liberal establishment in Hollywood has shown for the president, that is not surprising. In fact, the 2017 Oscars could best be desribed as a Trump roast that was occasioanlly interupted by actors, producers, and directors receiving awards.
Last year’s awards were marked by speeches and remarks about racism and global warming. This year, President Trump was on the menu.
The Trump-bashing began almost as soon as the show began. Less than 20 seconds into his opening monologue, host Jimmy Kimmel (shown) said, “This broadcast is being watched live by millions of Americans and around the world in more than 225 countries that now hate us. And I think that is an amazing thing.” Kimmel’s remark — a clear reference to the mantra in Hollywood that Trump’s policies are drawing hatred from the rest of the world — was followed with, “I want to say ‘thank you’ to President Trump. I mean, remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist? That’s gone — thanks to him.”
Continuing the trend of low-brow jabs at the president and his policies, Kimmel used the presence of French actress Isabelle Huppert to say, “On behalf of everyone here I would like to say we didn’t see Elle, but we absolutely loved it. You were amazing in that film and I am glad Homeland Security let you in tonight.” Kimmel’s pointed jabs at President Trump’s efforts to protect America from international terrorism — delivered in what passes for humor among the Hollywood elite — were punctuated later in the evening on a much more serious note when Iranian director Asghar Farhadi won Best Foreign Language Film for The Salesman. Rather than accept the award in person, Farhadi provided a prepared statement in which he said that he did not attend the awards ceremony “out of respect for the people of my country and the other six nations who have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the U.S.” And Gael Garcia Bernal used his time on the stage while accepting the award for best animated picture to make a statement about President Trump’s policies of protecting the southern border. “As a Mexican, as a Latin American, as a migrant worker, as a human being, I’m against any form of wall that wants to separate us,” Bernal said.
Of course, left out of these statements are the simple facts that Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism and Mexico has stricter policies regarding illegal border crossings than does the United States. But then the Hollywood elite — who make their fortunes by making movies that require the viewer to suspend logic — are not likely to let a few pesky facts get in the way of a good narrative. Particularly when that narrative is fueled by liberal politics.
Kimmel’s monologue included a fairly pointed jab at Mel Gibson, as well. Gibson, who is making something of a comeback since his life and his career went off the rails a few years ago, directed the film Hacksaw Ridge — about Desmond Doss, who was the first “conscientious objector” in U.S. history to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Hacksaw Ridge raked in nearly $160 million in the box office and was nominated for six Oscars including Best Director for Gibson, who was at the awards ceremony to hear Kimmel’s remarks about Trump not being able to unify the nation. Kimmel followed that with, “There"s only one Braveheart in this room, and he"s not going unite us either, okay?"
Hacksaw Ridge is the first film Gibson has directed since Apocalypto, which was released in 2006, the year of his infamous arrest. As Hollywood Reporter wrote of his nomination:
Gibson had become a Hollywood pariah following a DUI arrest in July 2006, when the Oscar-winning Braveheart director hurled statements about "f—ing Jews" at an officer. Within hours, the arrest report was leaked, and the industry turned a cold shoulder on Gibson"s awards-season contender Apocalypto.
Gibson publicly denounced his words and asked for forgiveness. Hacksaw Ridge marks his first directorial effort since Apocalypto.
Gibson did not win Best Director, but Hacksaw Ridge took both Best Film Editing and Best Sound Mixing. It was also nominated for Best Picture, but lost out to the politically correct Moonlight — a film described by the Verge as “a beautifully nuanced gay coming-of-age tale” that features depictions of lewd sex acts to which Kimmel jokingly refereed in his monologue. That a film about a non-violent war hero would lose out to a film celebrating sodomy is a sad commentary on the cultural values of the Hollywood crowd. But it is to be expected.
Riding on the anti-Trump sentiment that marked the evening, Kimmel ended his low-brow monologue by making a crass reference to President Trump’s famous early-morning tweets. He told the nominees, “Some of you will get to come up here on this stage tonight and give a speech that the President of the United States will tweet about in all caps during his 5:00 a.m. bowel movement tomorrow, and I think that’s pretty darn excellent if you ask me.” One can only imagine the outrage of the Hollywood crowd if conservatives had treated President Obama with that level of disrespect. Good for goose but forbidden to the gander.
But Kimmel’s anti-Trump remarks did not end with his monologue. Even while announcing nominations, he managed to work in ways to insult the president and his cabinet nominees, saying, “Doctor Strange was nominated for special effects — and also Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.”
Kimmel — not knowing when a bad thing has been played out — actually tweeted to the president live during the awards ceremony. He announced his intentions by saying, "We"re more than two hours into the show and Donald Trump hasn"t tweeted at us once and I"m starting to get worried about him." He then picked up his phone and while casting his screen to the large projection screen, tweeted, “Hey @realDonaldTrump u up?” He also continued to get some extra play out of an earlier joke about the feud between the president and actress Meryl Streep. During his monologue he had introduced Streep as “mediocre” and “overrated” — references to remarks Trump had previously made about her. When she stood to be recognized, he asked her if the dress she was wearing was “an Ivanka." After his first tweet, he then tweeted, “@realDonaldTrump #Merylsayshi.”
While the most apt words to describe the evening would perhaps be “childish” and “crass,” it is noteworthy that at an event designed to recognize the accomplishemnts of those present, President Trump — who was not even there — stole the show and was the center of attention.
Photo of Jimmy Kimmel: AP Images
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