Telecast Discussion

[Mister Tee]

Since the Great Issue rages on, a few thoughts:

Which is only an issue at all for a small fraction of the American population. Considering that less than one in twenty Americans saw the broadcast in the first place, most people in the country are still probably unaware of what happened.

It's been in the first block of the national news every single night this week. It's the most coverage anything to do with the Oscars has received in my memory.

[mlrg]

Since the Great Issue rages on, a few thoughts:

Which is only an issue at all for a small fraction of the American population. Considering that less than one in twenty Americans saw the broadcast in the first place, most people in the country are still probably unaware of what happened.

Really? It made the headlines and front pages in my country. I don’t know a single person who is unaware of the incident

[Greg]

Since the Great Issue rages on, a few thoughts:

Which is only an issue at all for a small fraction of the American population. Considering that less than one in twenty Americans saw the broadcast in the first place, most people in the country are still probably unaware of what happened.

[Mister Tee]

I finally got to see the Oscars in its entirety and I'm baffled why that Bruno production number was performed. There was already the Encanto song nominee so why this second song?

They are all about ratings and that song is a big hit.

And Disney, don't forget -- which owns ABC, and also saw to it that costumes (where they were favored to win) and visual effects (where they had two Marvel movies up) stayed on-air, while most Dune wins were pushed to the pre-show.

By the way, people are noting how the Big Incident squashed coverage of all the other wins...but overlooking that it also allowed the show to mostly skate for what should have been the ultimate egg-on-face moment: the hilarious results of their Twitter polls. (Which were supposed to be Marvel triumphs.)

[dws1982]

I finally got to see the Oscars in its entirety and I'm baffled why that Bruno production number was performed. There was already the Encanto song nominee so why this second song?

They are all about ratings and that song is a big hit.

[Reza]

I finally got to see the Oscars in its entirety and I'm baffled why that Bruno production number was performed. There was already the Encanto song nominee so why this second song?

The tributes to both James Bond and The Godfather were listliss and dull.

The three hosts were truly insipid. Bring back Whoopi, Billy or Hugh Jackman. And please lets have real movie stars hand out the Oscars next year

[Big Magilla]

Although there was a petition started to keep Casey Affleck from presenting the 2018 Best Actress Oscar, he withdrew on his own.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/j ... -at-oscars

[Mister Tee]

Since the Great Issue rages on, a few thoughts:

Taking away Smith's win is a non-starter. No one's negated Kevin Spacey's two Oscars, or any of Harvey's. You can't delete Ty Cobb from the Hall of Fame just because you know now he's was a stone racist. Numbers are numbers. Smith got the most votes, therefore he's the year's Oscar winner. Any punishment will be going forward -- almost surely including not being asked to present best actress this year (Casey Affleck suffered that fate, and whatever he did wasn't witnessed by millions of people).

There's a corner of the Internet that's all-in on "Smith was a hero", but perhaps even more disturbing is the inevitable "both sides" take: Smith was out of line, but Rock was also to blame for telling that joke. Serious question: did anyone think that joke was so over-the-line before Will's overwrought reaction? I know there were only about 15 seconds between the time Rock told it and the Slap Heard Round the World, but was anyone thinking, in that brief moment, Gee, that joke really cut too deep? Would we even remember the joke, without what followed?

Side note one: It's apparently assumed that, because Jada mentioned her condition on Instagram, not being aware of it is like not knowing who's president. News to Twitter: you live in a bubble, where you know a million things most people don't.

Side note two (and I have to credit someone on AwardsWorthy for this): Does anyone even recall that Regina Hall made a joke about Lebron's receding hairline only about two hours earlier? Which is every bit as much a physical condition as Jada's (and, from what I understand, one about which Lebron is quite sensitive), but has been viewed as joke-worthy my entire lifetime -- anyone who suggested that jibe went too far would be laughed to oblivion.

So much of this is depressing, and all too typical of our current debased culture.

[Sonic Youth]

Agree with everything except for the word "arguably".

[taki15]

The Academy has no moral right to take away Smith's Oscar as long as Harvey Weinstein, a convicted serial rapist, still has his.
Not to mention the optics of a black man losing the award while white guys, who arguably did much worse things, retain theirs.

[Big Magilla]

I said it was a thought. I didn't say it was a good idea, but it wouldn't be re-writing history as would be the case if they were to revote past winners.

If they were to take a poll as to how many who voted for him would change their vote if they could, I think there would be more who would want to do so than wouldn't.

I think taking the award away and not having a winner would be asinine. Giving it to the next highest vote-getter wouldn't be right either. The only fair solution would be to have a re-vote, but, yeah, it's not going to happen. The only thing I see them doing for sure is not allowing him back next year to present the Best Actress award. He should have been removed from the event like anyone else who did what he did with his later presented award accepted by the Academy in his behalf. They have to make it clear that they will do that if this ever happens again, no matter who the assailant is.

Will Smith at one time was as big a supporter of Scientology as Tom Cruise. The aptly nicknamed Lady Macbeth not only raised her two kids in the pseudo-religion, she ran a school for other celebrity's children in its practices. Now they claim they were never Scientologists. Whichever way the wind blows, go Will and Jada, I guess. They're bBigger liars than anyone in the public eye outside of Trump and his supporters.

[Sonic Youth]

This really shouldn't be all that difficult. The Academy has bylaws, and they should look and see what those bylaws say and proceed from there. I assume the venue has its own regulations, and they should also proceed accordingly. They've no doubt had disorderly patrons on the property before. Chris Rock isn't pressing charges. That's as far as it should go. I understand Smith would have been arrested had he been a crew member. But he wasn't. That's just a fact of life. So, we move forward from here.

Since he's a star and since this was broadcast all over the world, there will be other consequnces by and by. All that will take care of itself. But I think it's ridiculous to take his Oscar away. And Magilla, I'm guessing your proposed method is, according to their bylaws, illegal several times over.

[OscarGuy]

Polanski and Weinstein had their memberships revoked. That's what will happen if anything. End of story. We shouldn't bother discussing the rescission of his award.

[Reza]

If Harvey Weinstein and Roman Polanski get to keep their Oscars why this intention to revoke Will's?

And yes good point about Sean Penn and Christian Slater and Jack Nicholson.....and so on and on.

Frankly its this weird Lady Macbeth-like Jada who needs to be spoken to. Has a strong whiff of being an attention seeker.

[HarryGoldfarb]

Here's a thought on how to handle Will Smith's win.

Have the full Academy membership revote the Best Actor award. If he wins again, he gets to keep the Oscar. If he loses, the award goes to whoever comes out on top, with an asterisk.

This was done with The Godfather’s score nomination but for reasons of eligibility since they found out part of it wasn’t entirely original.

In this case, however, Smith won fair and square, no matter whether we agree or not with his award. I am not familiar with the Academy’s Code of Conduct, which was socialized in 2017, although some excerpts have been in the media lately. Can not remember the source, but this is a partial transcript from a recently published article:

At the time, AMPAS CEO Dawn Hudson wrote to members: “Academy membership is a privilege offered to only a select few within the global community of filmmakers,” Variety reported.

“In addition to achieving excellence in the field of motion picture arts and sciences, members must also behave ethically by upholding the Academy’s values of respect for human dignity, inclusion, and a supportive environment that fosters creativity.“

She added: “There is no place in the Academy for people who abuse their status, power or influence in a manner that violates recognized standards of decency. The Academy is categorically opposed to any form of abuse, harassment or discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disability, age, religion, or nationality. The Board of Governors believes that these standards are essential to the Academy’s mission and reflective of our values.”


We know an ongoing review of the incident is taking place, and based on these grounds some form of a sanction for Smith is expected regarding his membership, but even considering revoking his award should be out of question because this would open a dangerous door of revisionism based on personal actions: every winner should take extreme care of his/her behavior for fear of losing an award? Shall the Academy commit efforts to evaluate personal actions of past winners to consider revoking or not their awards? I mean, several winners have been involved in violence related scandals: Sean Penn and Christian Bale come quickly to mind. If those events weren’t televised or didn’t happened during an Oscar telecast, are admissible?