It seems as though the Oscar writers think that Hollywood is so liberal they can get away with making offensive comments because everyone knows they’re “just joking.”
I don’t agree.
The Academy Awards ceremony Feb. 24 featured an onslaught of sexist, racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic “jokes.” At a time when America is facing an epidemic of gun violence and debating how to limit the spread of assault weapons, host Seth MacFarlane thought it would be clever to make a joke about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
“Daniel Day-Lewis is not the first actor to be nominated for playing Lincoln,” McFarlane said. “Raymond Massey portrayed him in the 1940s’ ‘Abe Lincoln in Illinois.’ I would argue, though, the actor who really got inside Lincoln’s head was John Wilkes Booth.”
Perhaps hoping to win an award for most racially insensitive comment, MacFarlane joked about Day-Lewis’ habit of staying in character during the filming of Lincoln, even when the cameras were off.
“If you bumped into Don Cheadle in the studio lot,” MacFarlane said, looking at Day-Lewis in the audience, “would you try and free him?”
MacFarlane also made outrageous remarks about singer Adele’s weight, gays, women, Latinas and Jews.
Perhaps the most offensive comments were made by “Ted,” the talking stuffed bear who bantered (through MacFarlane’s voice) with actor Mark Wahlberg about Hollywood’s domination by Jews. If putting those words in the mouth of a talking bear was supposed to make the remarks cute and cuddly, it didn’t work for me.
The setup was Ted’s desire to gain acceptance with the Hollywood “in” crowd, which he said were the Jews, so he could attend a post-Oscars orgy. Ted begged Wahlberg to tell him where the orgy would be held. Wahlberg finally spilled the beans — it would be “at Jack Nicholson’s house.”
It was a not very subtle — and not very funny — reference to a 1977 incident that occurred at Nicholson’s home, where director Roman Polanski raped a 13-year-old girl. Polanski pleaded guilty but fled to Paris before he was sentenced.
Remarking on all the talent assembled at the ceremony, Ted said to Wahlberg, “You know what’s interesting? All those actors I just named are part Jewish,” referring to Joaquin Phoenix (who has a Jewish mother), Day-Lewis (ditto) and Alan Arkin (both parents were Jewish).
“What about you?” Ted asked Wahlberg. “You’ve got a ‘berg’ on the end of your name. Are you Jewish?”
Wahlberg explained that he is Catholic. Ted responded: “Wrong answer. Try again. Do you want to work in this town or don’t you?”
To gain favor with the Hollywood crowd, Ted claimed that he was Jewish, that he “was born Theodore Shapiro,” and that “I would like to donate money to Israel and continue to work in Hollywood forever.”
When Wahlberg called Ted an idiot, Ted responded, “We’ll see who’s an idiot when they give me my private plane at the next secret synagogue meeting.”
Ted’s (or, in reality, MacFarlane’s) remarks about the “secret” Jewish cabal that controls Hollywood, discriminates against non-Jews and is tied to Israel were not clever and witty. They were anti-Semitic.
I’m certain that many film industry folks sitting in the audience were uncomfortable with the barrage of offensive comments throughout the evening. I’m not a prude, and I believe it’s OK to make fun of one’s foibles. But the comments by MacFarlane did not simply poke fun at specific individuals; they targeted entire groups.
The Oscars crossed the invisible line between satire and bigotry. The show was ugly and unfunny. As a progressive and a Jew, I found the comments outrageous.
Of course, there were no hooded sheets, burning crosses,
N-words or “fag” jokes. But bigotry comes in various shades.
Peter Dreier is a prefessor of politics at Occidental College in Los Angeles. His most recent book is “The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame.”