During Monday’s edition of CNN’s New Day, guest co-host Erica Hill and Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter complained the winners of the Academy Awards were “so white” and “so male.”
The 90th Annual Academy Awards took place Sunday night. As has become commonplace at Hollywood awards ceremonies, the show focused heavily on politics, bashing conservatism and promoting liberalism. Honoring the best and brightest art and talent in Hollywood almost seems like it has found its way to the back burner.
Stelter complained that only 6 of the 39 award recipients were female. Hill seemed embarrassed that, in 2018, we still had to discuss these “kinds of firsts when it comes to racial and gender parity.” Keep in mind that we only discuss these “kinds of first” because the media obsess over them. A proposal championed by Best Actress Oscar winner Frances McDormand at this year’s Oscars, known as the inclusion rider, hopes to change that. Inclusion riders would basically serve as an affirmative action program for Hollywood, forcing production companies to ensure “gender and racial equality” when it comes to hiring on movie sets.
While Hollywood loves to portray itself as a bastion of diversity, it only supports one kind of diversity. Hollywood has no room for diversity of opinion. Nearly everyone who has power in Tinseltown loyally follows the liberal line. To his credit, Stelter admitted that Hollywood has little appetite for either kind of diversity, saying “Hollywood talks the talk, doesn’t always the walk.” That remark might qualify as the understatement of the century.
With the Golden Globes, the SAGs, the Grammys and the Oscars in the rear view mirror, the Hollywood hate fest of conservatism will now go on hiatus for a little while. Fortunately, celebrities can count on their allies on late-night TV and CNN to continue to fight for #TheResistance in the meantime.
CNN New Day
03/05/18
08:57 AM
BRIAN STELTER: Harvey Weinstein was on the red carpet this time last year, celebrating like a media mogul that he was. This used to be Weinstein’s stage. He would mount these elaborate Oscars campaigns and help actors and actresses win these fantastic prizes. Now, of course, six months later, we learned about this disgusting behavior in his past. He was kicked out of the Academy and what a difference a year makes to see his accusers on stage instead. Ashley Judd, who was the lead of that original New York Times story was on stage saying “a mighty chorus is saying time’s up right now” and I thought it was important these actresses said we are just at the beginning. Change is going to take time. Erica, the most striking statistic for me, about last night, was that 39 people were on stage accepting awards. 39 winners of the Oscars. Only six of those winners were women. So Hollywood has a long way to go in terms of gender equality and it was very visible and very obvious last night.
ERICA HILL: So, and I would say, not just gender equality but for all of the uproar that we saw over Oscar’s so white, they are trying, right?
STELTER: Yes and I remember the hashtag...
HILL: There was talk about that with Frances McDormand saying we all need inclusion riders. We need to make sure there’s more diversity, both on screen and behind the screen. And at the same time, not only was it Oscar so white, we saw a lot of Oscar so male last night too. There’s still some catching up to do, a lot of it.
STELTER: Exactly. Hollywood talks the talk, doesn’t always walk the walk. Certainly, last night for example, Jordan Peele was the first black screenwriter to win for original screenplay for “Get Out”, an incredible movie, a huge night for him. But we’re talking about those kinds of firsts when it comes to racial and gender parity.
HILL: In 2018.
STELTER: It’s a reminder that Hollywood, like other industries, has a long way to go and I think as much as there was, this was a self-congratulatory night, there were signs of those, of those barriers that still need to be broken. You know, meanwhile, “The Shape of Water” wins for best picture. Lots of other films picked up an award here or there. Allison Janney had a wonderful speech. Gary Oldman won as well. You know, there’s sort of something for everyone last night. But like you said, the issues of gender and racial equity, I think, very visible on stage.
