After more than three weeks since Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election on November 8, the liberals in the entertainment industry still have not accepted the fact that Republican Donald Trump won the contest, and they use every chance they get to slam the president-elect.
One such incident was the Gotham Awards, which are held every year on the Monday after Thanksgiving in New York City, where actor Ethan Hawke stated: “Whenever faced with fascism, the artistic community generally rises to the occasion.”
According to an article written by Jason Guerrasio, an entertainment reporter for the Business Insider website, even though “the event champions major achievements in the independent film world, it was hard this year to avoid addressing the results of the presidential election.”
“Hawke received one of the tribute awards of the evening,” Guerrasio noted, and in talking backstage with Business Insider, he didn’t hold back on what he thinks about President-Elect Trump.”
“The great thing is the artistic community is given a huge opportunity,” said Hawke, who has appeared in such movies as Dead Poets Society, Sinister and The Magnificent Seven: “Whenever faced with fascism, the artistic community generally rises to the occasion.”
In addition, during an interview with Pamela McClintock of The Hollywood Reporter website, Hawke sounded a similar theme:
People who cherish equality and fairness, who celebrate the diversity and the human spirit in all people, are feeling punched in the gut.
In general, the artistic community thrives when fascists are in charge. So the only upside is that people in the arts now are motivated.
“Look at the upset around the Nixon administration and the Vietnam War and what happened with music,” he continued. “And the films of the 1960s and '70s are still seen as a high-water mark.”
Back at the Gotham Awards, “host Keegan-Michael Key (half of the duo making up TV show Key & Peele, he also starred in this year's indie Don’t Think Twice), joked at the beginning of the show that he had missed the election and had written his monologue before the results, assuming Hillary Clinton had won.”
“The act only got a small number of laughs,” Guerrasio noted.
English actor Damian Lewis presented the audience award by saying: “The film that receives the most votes is the winner. What a brilliant idea,” referring to Trump winning the Electoral College and the presidency even though Clinton won the popular vote.
Guerrasio also noted: “Comedian Nick Kroll got in on it as well when he presented the best actor award: 'Gentlemen, if you don’t win, take solace in the fact that you didn’t win because the Russians interfered in ways we don’t understand.'”
Barry Jenkins, director of the year’s hit independent movie Moonlight -- which won four awards during the evening, including best feature -- observed that, since the election, his movie has “suddenly become a beacon for those who are disappointed by the results.”
“In the wake of the election, people sent me Twitter and Instagram direct messages saying that as a result of the election, the only thing to do was to spend two hours that they felt would give them a fresh perspective or reaffirm this idea of humanity,” Jenkins said.
The director also told the Business Insider after winning the best feature prize:
I got so many notes about people seeing the movie for a second time after the election. So in that sense I don't know if it's changed the film, but the one thing I think of is I went eight years without making a film.
The fact that the film exists right now for people who might need it. I think it's a very beautiful thing.
This event wasn't the first time Hawke, a registered Democrat, has ventured into politics.
He supported Bill Bradley, John Kerry and Barack Obama for president in the 2000, 2004 and 2008 elections. Hawke is also an activist for gay rights and, in March of 2011, he and his wife, Ryan, released a video supporting same-sex marriage in New York City.
In an October 2012 interview, Hawke said that he prefers great art over politics, explaining that his preference shows "how little" he cares about the latter.
“I think about the first people of our generation to do great art,” he stated. “I see [novelist] Michael Chabon write a great book; when I see [actor] Philip Seymour Hoffman do Death of a Salesman.”
“I see people of my generation being fully realized in their work, and I find that really kind of exciting,” Hawke added. “But politics? I don't know. [GOP Senate Speaker] Paul Ryan is certainly not my man.”
Hawke is undoubtedly not Ryan's man either, especially since the actor is still agonizing over a Republican winning the White House.
