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.
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.
