Hollywood elites love to lecture the rest of America about morals — even while their own legacy of immorality is brought to light.
Traditionally, public gatherings in the film industry are just excuses to publicly excoriate Republicans — and this year’s Academy Awards ceremony was no exception.
During his acceptance speech after winning the Oscar for Best Original Script, for instance, famed film director Spike Lee publicly went after President Trump, urging viewers to support someone else — apparently anyone else — in the next presidential election.
“The 2020 presidential election is around the corner,” he said. “Let’s all mobilize. Let’s all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate.”
Spanish actor Javier Bardem also took aim at President Trump’s stance on border security, telling the audience that “there are no borders or walls that can restrain ingenuity and talent.”
“In any region of any country of any continent, there are always great stories that move us,” Bardem said. “And tonight we celebrate the excellence and importance of the cultures and languages of different countries.”
While movie stars may have a right to express their views in public, they are clearly not immune to hypocrisy — Hollywood, after all, is far from a pinnacle of morality.
For at least the past 100 years, the famed epicenter of the film industry has been infested with rampant sexism, discrimination, and sexual abuse, culminating in one of the biggest sexual assault scandals America has seen since Bill Clinton.
Following the sexual harassment and rape allegations against former producer Harvey Weinstein, numerous Hollywood icons have been accused of similar offenses, including Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, James Franco, Sylvester Stallone, Kevin Spacey, and many others. Certainly, everyone has a right to due process and the presumption of innocence, but there is clearly a disturbing trend that’s been covered up in Tinsel Town for a long, long time.
To make matters worse, Hollywood also has a remarkable gender pay gap, with male movie stars dramatically outearning their female counterparts.
According to USA Today, actor Mark Wahlberg was paid “$1.5 million for reshooting his scenes in All the Money in the World,” while his co-star Michelle Williams was paid “less than $1,000.”
Coincidentally, the reshoot was necessitated by sexual assault allegations made against Kevin Spacey, who originally starred in the film as billionaire J. Paul Getty.
That’s exactly why we can’t take moral sermons from Hollywood seriously.
At the Oscars, Spike Lee urged viewers to “make the moral choice between love versus hate,” but he didn’t even follow his own advice.
According to Associated Press reporter Andrew Dalton, Lee “was visibly angry when ‘Green Book’ was announced as the winner of best picture at the Oscars, waving his arms in disgust and appearing to try to storm out of the Dolby Theatre before he was stopped at the doors.”
“He returned to his seat when the speeches were over,” Dalton added.
So much for choosing love over hate.