Golden Globe Awards: If They Really Wanted To Show #MeToo Solidarity They'd Dress Up As Potted Plants

Here we go folks.  The annual hypocrisy and pretentiousness of Hollywood will plague us beginning with the Golden Globes tonight. The Screen Actors Guild awards will come our way on January 21 followed by the Oscars on March 4.

It’s all just a little too preachy and self-congratulatory for me. 

The entertainment industry wraps itself in enormous amounts of money and power all while turning a blind eye to drug abuse, rape and sexual assault without any accountability for its loathsome behavior. Almost all its members live in gated communities and look down their noses at the very people, you and I, who have assured their grotesque wealth and snobbery by paying for tickets to see their movies and attending Broadway plays.

All that pretentiousness will bubble up during these award shows with displays of overwrought attacks on President Trump.

Nine days after The New York Times first revealed movie mogul Harvey Weinstein paid millions of dollars to settle a number of harassment claims made by women, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expelled the former Miramax chief under enormous public pressure.

Scores of women came forward with allegations that Weinstein harassed and assaulted them.  A number of other high-profile Hollywood figures have also been accused of similar crimes. That has left the Academy with a major dilemma─what to do about the other “mega-stars” who have been accused of sexual misconduct.

Weinstein was powerful enough to destroy the careers of anyone who threatened him, allegedly causing a few up-and-coming star actresses to vanish from the silver screen by privately blacklisting them with top directors. Former employees of his Miramax movie company have described it as a “brainwashing cult,” the “cult of Harvey,” a kingdom ruled by a mercurial tyrant whose sexual predation and cover-ups destroyed countless careers and drove some of his employees to alcoholism and nervous breakdowns.

The Weinstein horror is a story about the abuse of power on a breathtaking scale, conducted with the assistance of an industry that regards itself as morally superior to ordinary Americans and never stops telling us how to live our lives, spend our money, and vote. The industry that shapes American culture more than any other force was a vast spider web with a bloated predator lurking at its heart.

Actresses, including nominees and presenters, are planning to wear black to protest gender inequality and to acknowledge the flood of sexual abuse allegations that have rocked Tinseltown.

I titled this post “If They Really Wanted To Show #MeToo Solidarity They'd Dress Up As Potted Plants” because of a lurid recounting of an incident at a Manhattan hot spot.  Local New York reporter for News12 Long Island, Lauren Sivan, alleges in 2007 Weinstein masturbated in front of her until he ejaculated into a potted plant near the vestibule leading to the kitchen of Cipriani, an Italian restaurant located in Manhattan.

Meryl Streep, whom I’ve chosen to place with the picture of a Los Angeles park bench adorned with Weinstein’s likeness as G-O-D courtesy of conservative street artist Sabo, has insisted multiple times that she never had any inkling of Weinstein's alleged misconduct—claims that have been met with criticism and taunts of hypocrisy from stars like Rose McGowan.  She “assumed he was just having girlfriends.”

"When I heard the rumors about actresses, I thought that was a way of denigrating the actress and her ability to get the job. That really raised my hackles. I didn't know that he was in any way abusing people. He never asked me to a hotel room," she said.

Five years ago, Streep accepted the award for best actress in a motion picture drama at the 2012 Golden Globe awards. She thanked God for giving her the opportunity to star as Margaret Thatcher in 2011’s The Iron Lady. But the God she was referring to was not in Heaven.

“I just wanna thank my agent Kevin Huvane and God, Harvey Weinstein, the punisher, Old Testament, I guess,” Streep joked at the time. She would go on to win the Oscar for the same role, an award that Weinstein lobbied hard for.

Meryl Streep certainly took her time to speak out against Harvey Weinstein, but at least she's said more than Hillary Clinton.#MerylStreep

— #ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) October 9, 2017

Meryl Streep's statement is a self-serving exoneration of Hollywood. pic.twitter.com/Ic1sHMrVe5

— Justin Miller (@justinjm1) October 9, 2017

One month after posters with Streep's face (another Sabo hit) popped up around Los Angeles with "She Knew" splashed across the front, the actress was done taking heat for her "complicit" behavior.  "I don't want to hear about the silence of me. I want to hear about the silence of Melania Trump. I want to hear from her. She has so much that's valuable to say. And so does Ivanka. I want her to speak now," Streep told the New York Times.

By now I’m sure you’ve heard the red carpet will go black at this year’s Globes award show.  Many actresses plan to wear black to this year's ceremony as a sign of protest against the industry's sexual abuse epidemic. The men will be making a statement as well. 

A sea of black will make for striking photos, and if anyone knows how to use dramatic imagery to send a message, it's Hollywood. But as the past few months have shown, appearances can be deceiving. A glamorous facade can cover up a whole lot of rot. 

As I noted above, there will be displays of overwrought attacks on President Trump at tonight’s ceremony.  Seth Meyers is set to host the awards.  He said during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter he’s not going to “bother with Donald Trump this year, because who actually needs to?”  He added the caveat he’s “reserving the right” to change his mind.

UPDATE:  Welcome readers of Pirate’s Cove.  We thank the Admiral for his kindness in linking to this post.