By all accounts, the Oscars were quite a bit more politically charged than the Golden Globes or the Grammy awards were. While this isn’t exactly unusual, “woke” Hollywood is exhausting, even for the most politically correct, and doesn’t bode well for the upcoming 2020 election.
Race dominated the evening. Several African-American women took home awards, the first of their kind, making history. Ruth E. Carter became the first black costume designer to take home an Oscar, which she won for “Black Panther.” Hannah Beachler became the first African American to win for production design, which she won for “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” These wins were historic and should be celebrated.
But when Barbra Streisand introduced “BlacKkKlansman,” she gushed about Spike Lee’s film calling it truthful. “Truth is especially precious these days,” she said, in a veiled attack on President Trump’s truthiness. Streisand described the film as an “unflinching look at race relations in America back in the 1970s” that is “just as relevant today.”
Lee then finally won his first Oscar, winning best adapted screenplay for “BlacKkKlansman.” The African-American, celebrated for his controversial films with racial and political overtones, made an overtly political comment towards the end of his acceptance speech: “The 2020 presidential election is around the corner. Let’s all mobilize. Let’s all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate.”
No, he didn’t mention Trump by name, but it was very obvious who he thinks is on the right and wrong side of history.
[Read more: Trump hits Spike Lee for ‘racist’ Oscar acceptance speech]
To continue the theme, “Green Book” won for Best Picture, something even the Washington Post said left “a sour taste” in some people’s mouths. An Esquire review of the film said it got “pretty much everything about racism in America totally wrong,” but that didn’t stop the Academy of Motion Pictures from honoring it. The film is about a racist white man (Tony Lip, played by Viggo Mortensen) and a black jazz pianist (Don Shirley, played by Mahershala Ali) who forge an unlikely friendship while driving through the south in the 1960s. Despite it looking like perfect Oscar bait, the film immediately garnered controversy as Shirley’s family claims they didn’t see the film until its release and it contains many factual inaccuracies. It has been “awash in controversy throughout this awards season,” but that didn’t stop the Academy from asking Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., to introduce the film, which angered people even more. Lewis said:
#Oscars Moment: Green Book wins for Best Picture. pic.twitter.com/nFBggI3Bsy
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) February 25, 2019
Looks like the days of keeping Hollywood and politics separate are over. If the Oscars are any sign of the future, we are in for more insufferable Hollywood grandstanding as we get closer to Election Day 2020.
Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.
