Vox: Cancel the Oscars broadcast to protest Trump immigration policy

Finally — a proposal that will unite Americans across the political spectrum. Vox’s Todd VanDerWerff writes today that Hollywood should cancel its upcoming Oscars broadcast if it wants to put teeth into its opposition to Donald Trump and his policies:

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President Donald Trump’s new immigration order — the one many have labeled a “Muslim ban” because it temporarily bars entry to the US for natives of seven Muslim-majority countries — stops people associated with various Oscar-nominated films from attending the 2017 Academy Awards. That’s just one reason the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences should cancel its annual ceremony and instead announce the winners via press release.

True, it’s just one reason. The others are that it’s interminable, self-congratulatory, and has less suspense than a Patriots-Browns game in December. That self-congratulatory quality comes out most strongly, in fact, when award winners devote their speeches to detailing just how awful they think Republicans are.

VanDerWerff understands that the broadcasts usually serve as a prime-time protest platform, but he argues that it’s not enough this time. Hollywood needs to put its money where it’s mouth is:

The Oscars have become semi-famous for speeches calling for political action. But speeches ultimately don’t risk all that much, because the people delivering them are speaking to a room full of mostly friendly, well-off liberals. Canceling the ceremony altogether would be a bolder and more appropriate act of protest.

Yes! Yes, it would be. Please don’t throw us in the briar patch of six hours or so of celebrity lectures. That would be entirely awful for Trump, and would cripple his presidency!

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Actually, there’s a better argument for the Left about canceling the Oscars, or at least the political lectures thereof. The last election made it pretty clear that middle America is a little tired of hearing how their issues aren’t important, and their perspectives unwelcome, in the media. They’ve been lectured by celebrity and media progressives for years if not decades about how awful they are. Six hours of hysterics over Trump just days after his presidency began for a policy on which he explicitly campaigned and which will only last 90-120 days is certainly not going to help connect the Left to the voters they’ve lost over the last six years.

Hollywood won’t cancel the Oscars because the opportunity to lecture America again about how they can stomp off and just leave us with the NFL and MMA is too tempting to pass up. Have fun storming the castle, movie stars, but don’t be surprised when the party turns out to be nothing more than tedious virtue-signaling within the same clique … like much of the product they churn out.

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Ed Morrissey 10:00 PM | November 22, 2024
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