Posted by As Hollywood gathers for their annual gala’s of high-five back-slapping; the expected flurry of anti-Trump liberal rants has begun. Yesterday’s Golden Globes, known for its more laid back champagne drinking than the Academy Awards (i.e. Oscars) was as good a place to start as any.
Mark Wahlberg’s statement a month ago that, “A lot of celebrities did, do, and shouldn’t [talk about politics]” is right on the money. I personally have never understood the cult of the celebrity surrounding famous movie stars and singers. Sure, I have my own favourite actors and singers but I have never ascribed anything more to them than that I generally like their entertainment (and given that even those that I like have always put out more than one movie or song which stunk to high heaven reinforces the word “generally”). I certainly don’t buy things they endorse, nor listen to their advise on things like climate change or politics because they are not the most credible or intelligent source for information on these subjects.
Golden Globe host Jimmy Fallon from the Tonight Show had this back-handed dig at Donald Trump’s win via the Electoral Collage despite losing the popular vote: The Golden Globes are “one of the few places left where America still honours the popular vote.” Seriously? No wonder Wahlberg says Hollywood is living in their own bubble. Let me get this straight. According to Jimmy Fallon, an event where the 93 paying members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (that is FOREIGN as in can’t vote in a U.S. election in any case) vote for winners is the apex of participatory democracy in the United States? Maybe Fallon had a little bit too much champagne and thought he was hosting the People’s Choice Awards. And even that isn’t really a popular vote as the selection process for voters is similar to that of used in election polling… and we’ve seen just how accurate the “expert” pollsters have been this last year in predicting election outcomes haven’t we?
Meryl Streep ruled the evening making a long speech about how multinational Hollywood was by citing example after example of actors from different places in the world, “and if we kicked them all out you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts.” As an investment banker in Hong Kong, I worked with colleagues from America, Canada, Britain, Ireland, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Russia, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, UAE, South Africa, Israel, Cyprus and that’s just off the top of my head. It is hardly unique to Hollywood. In fact, I would guess that investment banking is even more global in its representation than Hollywood which tends to be America-centric in its focus. Whoops, there goes that bubble again… look at us, how global, multi-racial and inclusive we are. It reminds me of the time I went to a Christmas party in Hong Kong (a city that is 94% ethnically Chinese) and was listening to this British woman go on and on about how “cosmopolitan” this party was with people from around the world… and I was the only Chinese person there apart from the catering staff.
To denigrate sports as being “not the arts” while elevating movie and TV to be “haute culture” is quite an arrogant assumption. After all, what is Hollywood but the most visible manifestation of mass or pop culture? That is a distinction that most Europeans would understand but most Americans can’t grasp; beholden as they are to the cult of the celebrity. Moreover, many sports are global in their reach as well. The NHL, long Canada’s national sport and dominated by Canadians has had players from 29 different countries through its ranks. Football (the real one that is, you know the sport that’s actually played with a foot… and a ball… that American’s like to call soccer) is as close to being a global sport as they come which is why the FIFA World Cup is the most watched sporting event in the world. Teams come from every continent, North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania (Australia)… well OK every continent except Antarctica because penguins are not eligible to field a team… Cue liberal rants of racism and discrimination (or is it speciesism?)
Sure, celebrities are allowed to have their own views and opinions just like everyone else. It’s just than unlike the village idiot who constantly writes barely coherent letters to the editor in the local paper; the famous person who goes on a rant gets his views plastered across mass and social media to a wide audience. Kind of like all the celebrities who said they would move to Canada if Trump won the elections.
Whoops… guess ranting about something and doing it are two different things. To date I know of exactly zero celebrities that have made good or intend to make good on their threat to move to Canada if Trump won.
Sure, you could say it’s hyperbole or just off the cuff comments in the heat of the moment (except for those who explicitly came out and said they weren’t joking… and then changed their minds). But when the spotlight is on you, it’s probably wiser to think a little bit before you open your mouth and spout a bunch of nonsense. After all, that’s one of the biggest (and generally accurate) criticisms of Donald Trump; that he says too many outrageous things off the cuff and through his tweets. As the bible says, “he that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.” Or for you atheist types, “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”