It’s Oscars weekend in Hollywood and this realtime The live audience was in the mood for insights into show business. Host Bill Maher did not disappoint.
This year’s Oscars have some changes, Maher said. “They ask, ‘Who are you hitting?’
He also noted that it’s difficult to remember who won what from year to year. “You win and you go,” Maher remarked. He waited a beat. “Like Kamala Harris.”
Maher admitted he’s committed to one actor in particular – Tom Cruise. “I want a person to stand up and say, ‘I want to thank Xenu.’
All of that in the opening monologue was the warm-up for Maher’s closing editorial in his New Rules section.
In a segment titled “The Scold and the Beautiful,” Maher reflected on the origins of the honorees, who shared their views with us, or “how bad things are for people from the people who have it best.”
Maher recalled that it’s been 50 years since Sacheen Littlefeather made waves by accepting the best actor award for Marlon Brando. She used the platform to detail how Hollywood had mistreated Native Americans.
What Maher found interesting about reports of this 1973 moment was that Littlefeather was greeted with boos and jeers from the crowd. One producer said she would be arrested if her message lasted longer than 60 seconds, and legend has it that actor John Wayne had to be prevented from storming the stage. “It was back when you weren’t allowed to storm the stage,” he remarked wryly.
That was then. But if she gave that speech today, the audience would embrace her, Maher said. “It’s because of progress,” he said.
He then pointed out how the world has changed since that moment. He found that change takes time and leaders often adapt too late. “I don’t know if everything is happening everywhere at once,” he said, referring to the Oscar favorite. “But I know that everyone is late with everything because that’s what it is to be human.”
Liberals are late, he noted, “but they tend to keep going until we get there.” He listed films that have led to better understanding on issues from AIDS to interracial marriage.
“They were cocks for an Indian in 1973, but besides that, Hollywood moved the country forward.”
He concluded, “So, thanks, Hollywood.”
Previously, songwriter David Byrne spoke about co-writing the Oscar-nominated song “This Is A Life” for the film Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Bryne said the song “is about a family reconciliation. I said, ‘That’s the point. We’ve got to put a stop to that.” He also admitted that he and his former Talking Heads bandmates “get along pretty well.”
This week’s panel saw New York Times Newsletter writer and contributor to The Glenn Show podcast, John McWhorter worked with a journalist, executive producer and COO for Eden Productions and Kunhardt Films, Josh Tyrangiel.
Their discussion ranged from Donald Trump’s appeal to the difference between justice and equality.