Comedian Ricky Gervais gave this year’s Academy Awards winners poor marks for speeches containing messages about social justice or politics.
“I have nothing against the most famous people in the world using their privileged, global platform to tell the world what they believe,” Gervais tweeted on Monday. “I even agree with most of it. I just tried to warn them that when they lecture everyday, hard working people, it has the opposite effect.”
He ended the tweet, saying: “Peace.”
I have nothing against the most famous people in the world using their privileged, global platform to tell the world what they believe. I even agree with most of it. I just tried to warn them that when they lecture everyday, hard working people, it has the opposite effect. Peace.
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) February 10, 2020
Gervais, who routinely criticizes celebrities who use their fame to push political messages of any kind, was referring to his message during his hosting gig at the Golden Globes earlier this year.
“So if you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech,” he said during his monologue in January. “You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg.”
“So if you win,” Gervais said to the Hollywood celebrities in attendance, “come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your God, and f— off.”
Social commentary in awards shows is nothing new, but appears to have blossomed over the past few years with President Trump in office.
On Sunday, Brad Pitt took a shot at Trump and Republicans for their conduct during the recent impeachment fight while accepting the award for best actor in a supporting role. Noting he only had 45 seconds to deliver his speech, Pitt joked, “which is 45 more seconds than the Senate gave John Bolton,” referring to how Trump’s former national security adviser never got a chance to testify in the Senate impeachment trial.
Joaquin Phoenix won the Oscar for best actor, and during his speech, he urged people to consider committing to a more sustainable future and doing more to combat the mistreatment of animals used in farming.
“I think that we’ve become very disconnected from the natural world. Many of us what we are guilty of is an egocentric world view: the belief that we’re the center of the universe,” Phoenix said. “We go into the natural world, and we plunder it for its resources. We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow, and when she gives birth, we steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. Then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf, and we put it in our coffee and our cereal.”
