MRC founder and president Brent Bozell was in the Fox studios in New York on Tuesday morning, opining on the Oscars and President Trump on the Fox Business program Varney & Company. They discussed the low ratings for the Oscars, and how British comedian Ricky Gervais tweeted that "everyday hardworking people" are put off when "the most famous people in the world use their privileged, global platform to tell the world what they believe."
BRENT BOZELL: You know what I think is happening? You can say yes, streaming video has had an effect on number for the Oscars. But look, they're paying for the sins of previous Oscars. Clearly the word has gone out. Do not do the political, because it is just driving away your audience, so Brad Pitt was the only one. Last year if I recall, they had almost nothing. But look what they did before, where it was de rigueur, you had to be as insulting as possible. Today you've got a vast swath of the American people that has no intention of even trying to see what might be on the Oscars. I think they may have lost them permanently.
An MRC poll in 2018 found that 74 percent agreed with the statement, "When I watch live sports or entertainment shows on television I am trying to get away from politics and do not want to be bombarded with partisan political messages," and 43 percent said they have been less likely to watch live sports and entertainment shows because they have become too political.
Varney began the Hollywood part of the interview by noticing that leftist New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg was thrilled by the South Korean movie Parasite winning the Oscar for Best Picture: "The triumph of Parasite is a sign of the crisis of faith in capitalism." Bozell thought that was remarkably tone-deaf.
BOZELL: It's the opposite of Ronald Reagan. You know, with Ronald Reagan it was morning in America, the shining city on the hill. We were aspirational, movies were redemptive. Today it's AOC. And it's all about negativity, and trying to tear down.
And it's ironic because you're in these booming days, where you just mentioned the stock market is up yet another 100 points. We can go through all the stats, you know the stats, of record employment, and every strata of minority -- blacks, women, Hispanics, everyone is in a boom. Yet Hollywood applauds a movie that says just the opposite. They say they reflect reality. Hollywood reflects only its reality.
The interview began with Varney mentioning how columnists at the leading newspapers are crying against Trump taking a blowtorch to governing norms. Varney suggested the press is sounding more "rabid." Bozell suggested the word might be "rabbit."
Bozell said "They've been trying to get him being a fraud, being a cheat, being a criminal, being a traitor. And, every single time, it is like Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, [laughs] or the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote where he just evades them. They're besides themselves. They don't know what to do."
