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75th Golden Globe Awards Stuns with Self Righteous Indictment of Hollywood Power Players

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Oprah Winfrey The 75th Golden Globes held its annual celebrity schmoozefest on January 7, 2018 with the show starting at 8:00 PM.  This normally lighthearted show ushers in the beginning of the unbearable Hollywood Awards season where pretty looking people pontificate to the public.  This night has taken a turn for the worst the past two years with Meryl Streep delivering an ugly tirade against Donald Trump last year.

 

Streep who referred to predator Weinstein as “God” at the 2012 Golden Globes continues to feign ignorance as to his sordid past as she indignantly calls on Ivanka and Melania Trump to publicly denounce harassment.  This year’s nominees and presenters chose to scapegoat the monstrous men of Hollywood.  Emceed by Seth Myers who opened his monologue by addressing “the elephant not in the room”, namely Harvey Weinstein, the self congratulatory crowd included nearly every celebrity donning black to show solidarity with the “Me Too” anti-sexual harassment movement.  Another theme of the night was “Time’s Up” where we were lectured to by Barbara Streisand, Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, and Nicole Kidman on the importance of standing up against harassment.

 

Ashley Judd, one of the first who spoke publicly on the record against Harvey Weinstein, sat in the front row with a dumbfounded smile accompanied by fellow Weinstein victim Selma Hayek.  I mistakenly assumed the actresses would appear in somber toned-down ensembles reflecting the seriousness of the movement; however, in a desperate attempt to remain relevant Hollywood stars chose downright slutty attire defeating the solemnity of the occasion.  Catherine Zeta-Jones looked like a stripper in her low cut sheer gown and was especially inappropriate when standing near 101-year-old legend Kirk Douglas who received a well deserved standing ovation.  Born, Issur Danielovitch, Kirk grew up in a town called Amsterdam, NY; the son of Yiddish-speaking Russian immigrants.  Kirk who embraced his Judaism after being injured in a helicopter crash in 1991 remains a committed Jew. The absence of son Michael for his father’s big night was a question undoubtedly on the audience’s mind. Catherine grabbed the microphone during the speech honoring Kirk and barely let poor Kirk, the victim of a debilitating stroke, utter a word.

 

Zeta-Jones was in good company with her provocative attire with celebrities Sharon Stone, Emilia Clarke, Kate Hudson, Margot Robbie, Eva Longoria and Natalie Portman choosing to keep up the tradition of showing their “Golden Globes” on this annual occasion. Wearing clothing more suitable for a burlesque show seems to defeat the purpose of lobbying against the objectification of women.  In their defense Stone, and Hudson seemed to have invested in some new implants and were “milking” the occasion.

 

Nonetheless, the hypocrisy of self righteous Hollywood is one of the reasons Donald Trump is currently our President; thankfully, there was little overt Trump bashing this evening.   Permeating the evening was a disturbing insincerity as we listened to the complaints of women who take home $20 million paychecks-why were they so angry.  What justification did these privileged ladies have for the major chip on their shoulder.  I find it difficult to feel sorry for women who complain of wage disparity when their paychecks are obscene; relative to the rest of the population.  Why were Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman tearful-was there something missing in their near perfect lives.  The men in the audience seemed almost embarrassed to attend with Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg clutching their wives as if to say hey, “we are the good guys.”

 

Anybody with even a hint of controversy was shunned from the occasion with usual attendees Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and George Clooney, noticeably absent.  Oprah Winfrey, who received the Cecil B. DeMille award gave the most sanctimonious speech of the evening reminiscent of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” oration.  Her preachy speech had her declaring, “I want all the girls watching here and now to know that a new day is on the horizon… because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight.”  Does Oprah really believe that Hollywood is somehow magically going to cure the ills of civilization when it is the industry that perpetuates the stereotype that a size 2 figure and a wrinkle free face are the hallmarks of true beauty?

 

An industry that continually promotes promiscuity and loose sexual mores is hardly one that should be applauded for elevating women.  Oprah’s lengthy speech was more appropriate for a Joel Osteen revival meeting than a perfunctory Hollywood Awards show.  The enraptured audience appeared foolishly stupified by Oprah’s hyperbolic words; I was waiting for them to shout out “you go girl.”

 

With so much attention focused on victims of sexual assault I almost forgot it was an awards show.  I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my excitement when “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”, an Amazon show, won two Globes including Best TV Comedy.  This ode to Jewish-American culture has proven to be a breakout hit and will hopefully spawn the creation of more Jewish related programming.  Another welcome surprise was the appearance of superstar Jewess Barbara Streisand whose dour demeanor was paradigmatic of the gloomy show.  Yet there were some highlights including those in Keith Urban’s hair who hands down wins for best Farrah Fawcett hairdo and golden spray tan of the evening.  And why not, it’s about time men get a fair chance to shine in the beauty arena. Isn’t Hollywood all about equality?

 

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