I haven’t watched even five minutes of the Academy Awards since Titanic was nominated. So what do I do last night for the first time in my life? Watch the entire Academy Awards from start to finish.
The three female hosts had me in stitches. Encanto won. An openly gay actress won. A deaf man won. Questlove won. A twenty-year-old won her first Oscar. There was a lot of much needed diversity. What wasn’t needed was the bru-ha-ha that stemmed from a joke.
Was the joke necessary? No. But coming from a stand-up comedian, I guess it was expected. But that doesn’t make it right. Was the slap necessary? No. But coming from a husband obviously standing up for his wife, I guess it was expected. But that doesn’t make it right either.
You know who really got hurt in this whole thing? Jada. Here is a courageous woman, not ashamed of her appearance, at an awards show to support her husband. She is then made the butt of a joke by a comedian presenter, looking as uncomfortable in her seat at the Dolby as I probably was in my seat at home. She is then probably as shocked as the rest of the world when her husband storms the stage and slaps the presenter for saying what he said. Imagine if he had punched the presenter? Imagine if the presenter had slapped him back? It could’ve been much worse. But it was bad enough. And from that moment on, the rest of the show became uncomfortable for me.
Even more embarrassing, for her at least (I felt embarrassed for her, even if she didn’t feel embarrassed for herself), was when her husband won for Best Actor and then stood there in all hypocrisy crying “peace and love” all over the place. Please. You just hit another man for his comments about your wife’s hair. Don’t feed us the “peace and love” bullshit.
I had no idea Jada had alopecia. In fact, the only other person I know of who has the condition is Ayanna Pressley. When I saw Jada on the red carpet before the show began and noticed her hair, I honestly thought it was for a movie role. So I can kind of see where the presenter was coming from.
For the record, nobody seemed to notice, care or mention John Travolta’s bald head. But does anyone remember when he butchered Idina Menzel’s name? Yes. Of course they do. And forever everyone will remember the slap heard, and felt, around Hollywood.
michellemchatton.com 