Last night's 97th Academy Awards on ABC celebrated "sex workers" and transsexuals in a ceremony that mostly honored films nobody has heard of.
Hosted by Conan O'Brien, the Oscars began with O'Brien poking fun at transgender actor Karla Sofia Gascón. Gascón was nominated as Best Actress for his role in the Netflix movie Emilia Perez, a film about a transexual drug dealer.
Despite being high on the oppression hierarchy, Gascón torpedoed his chances of winning an Oscar as a fake woman after old Tweets resurfaced of him insulting George Floyd, Muslims and the Oscars diversity obsession.
“Karla, if you are going to tweet about the Oscars, remember, my name is Jimmy Kimmel,” O'Brien joked.
Zoe Saldaña won as Best Supporting Actress for her role in Emilia Perez since she had no tweets that could derail her chances.
“My grandmother came to this country in 1961, I am a proud child of immigrant parents, with dreams and dignity and hard-working hands and I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award and I know I will not be the last,” Saldaña said. “The fact I got an award where I got to sing and speak in Spanish, my grandmother would be so delighted. This is for her.”
Unfortunately for Saldaña, Mexicans were not delighted by her movie and have expressed outrage at the film's portrayal of Mexico.
“I’m very, very sorry that you and so many Mexicans felt offended, that was never our intention, we came from a place of love and I stand by that.” Saldaña later told a Mexican reporter backstage.
The big winner of the night was an independent film called Anora, about a Brooklyn escort who marries a Russian oligarch's son. It turns out that praising sex trafficking is a winning formula in Hollywood.
Anora's writer/director Sean Baker thanked hookers when he won Best Original Screenplay. "I want to thank the sex worker community. They have -- they have shared their stories. They have shared their life experience with me over the years. My deepest respect, thank you, I share this with you."
The star of Anora, Mikey Madison, also gave a thumbs up to prostitutes after winning her Oscar for Best Actress, "I also just want to, again, recognize and honor the sex worker community." The audience gave Madison a huge applause at that line.
Anora also won Best Picture. It was a surprise to see the happy prostitute picture beat out both the transgender film and the intersex pope movie, Conclave. In the game of oppression Olympics, apparently a feisty "sex worker" now trumps both a trannie and a fictional pope with a uterus.
The award for Best Documentary went to No Other Land, a film critical of Israel. Filmmakers Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham criticized U.S. and Israeli policy in Gaza during their speeches.
Adra: Thank you to the academy for the award. It's such a big honor for the four of us and everybody who supported us for this documentary. About two months ago, I became a father, and my hope to my daughter that she will not have to live the same life I am living now, always fearing. Always fearing violence, home demolitions, and displacement that my community is living and facing every day under Israeli occupation. No other land reflects the harsh reality that we've been enduring for decades and still exists as we call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people.
Abraham: We -- we made this -- we made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together, our voices are stronger. We -- We see each other, the destruction of Gaza and its people, which must end, the Israeli hostages, brutally taken in the crime of October 7th, which must be freed. When I look at Basal, I see my brother, but we are unequal. We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law, and he is under military law that destroy his life and he cannot control. There is a different path, a political solution. Without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both of our people. And I have to say, as I am here, the foreign policy in this country is helping to block this path. And -- You know, I -- why? Can't you see that we are intertwined? That my people can be truly safe if Basal's people are truly free and safe? There is another way. It's not too late.
At least Abraham mentioned October 7th and the remaining Israeli hostages. Palestinian activists pretend like the horrors of October 7th never really happened.
Host Conan O'Brien mostly steered clear of political jokes or commentary through the night, though he did take a dig a Trump late in the evening.
O'Brien: You know, Anora is having a good night. Yeah. That's great. Yeah. That's great news. Two wins already. I guess Americans are excited to see somebody finally stand up to a powerful Russian.
The only time in the 21st century when Putin did not commit acts of aggression was during Trump's first presidency. If Trump had been president in 2022, it's probable Putin would never have dared invade Ukraine. Hollywood lives in unreality.
Most presenters avoided direct political statements of any kind, except Daryl Hannah, who shouted ‘Slava Ukraini’ while presenting the award for Best Editor.
Overall, Oscar night dragged on because it was impossible to care about films nobody has seen. Only a few of the movies mentioned during the night, such as Wicked or Dune: Part Two, would even be recognizable to mass audiences.
The Academy Awards increasingly cater to weird or niche tastes that fail to engage a wider public. This disconnect between Hollywood and film audiences grows with each passing year.
