Frequent poster JimmyC gave us a history lesson in time for this weekend’s Oscar telecast:
In the 1978 Oscars, Vanessa Redgrave’s acceptance speech included a nasty bit of anti-semitism about “Zionist hoodlums.” Later in the show, Paddy Chayefsky (screenwriter of “Network”) was presenting the writing Oscars, but started by giving this speech:
“Before I get on to the writing awards, there’s a little matter I’d like to tidy up, at least if I expect to live with myself tomorrow morning. I would like to say — personal opinion, of course — that I’m sick and tired of people exploiting the occasion of the Academy Awards for the propagation of their own personal political propaganda. I would like to suggest to Miss Redgrave that her winning an Academy Award is not a pivotal moment in history, does not require a proclamation, and a simple “thank you” would have sufficed.”
What are the odds that anyone would give a speech like that now?
And here’s the kicker- Redgrave’s speech was booed by the audience, and Chayefsky’s was applauded. That shows how much the Hollywood elite has changed in the last 30 years.
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