Golden Globes another exercise in Hollywood faking sincerity
Anyone who tuned into the Golden Globes Sunday night hoping to be entertained instead got another dose of Hollywood hypocrisy. What could have been mistaken as a prime time blackout on your television screen was instead celebrities, dressed all in black to show solidarity for victims of sexual misconduct.
To many of us it looked like yet another contrived attempt at a lot of pomp and circumstance void of any real credibility.
Harvey Weinstein had a 30-year pattern of abuse that was well known among those in Hollywood. In a town filled with women who call themselves feminists and liberals who claim to champion women, nobody – nobody – who witnessed his abusive behavior said a word. Not one word.
Now that it’s safe - and one of the most powerful men in Hollywood is no longer a threat to any of their careers - their answer is to dress in black and pat themselves on the back to show they support the very victims of sexual misconduct who they ignored.
Hollywood hypocrisy has hit a new low.
To say celebrities live on their own little elite island detached from the reality most of the country experiences is a tremendous understatement.
Perhaps if they really wanted to elicit change they could have spoken up about a culture of behavior in Hollywood that was permitted to continue for far too long.
Women used the time they had on stage to talk about sexual harassment and sexual assault and eliciting change.
Perhaps if they really wanted to elicit change they could have spoken up about a culture of behavior in Hollywood that was permitted to continue for far too long.
Perhaps they could consider that change doesn’t happen from a stage in a room full of their peers congratulating and applauding each other all night.
And maybe – just maybe – they should start talking about changing something when they see it happening, instead of waiting to talk about it on TV, with cameras rolling, while getting accolades from the audience.
On Twitter Sunday, actress Rose McGowan called out the “Hollywood fakery,” responding to a tweet from Italian Actress Asia Argento, who, like McGowan, has said that she was assaulted by Weinstein. Argento tweeted that nobody should forget that McGowan was the first one to break the silence on Weinstein, and McGowan replied: “And not one of those fancy people wearing black to honor our rapes would have lifted a finger had it not been so. I have no time for Hollywood fakery, but you I love.”
Sexual misconduct in Hollywood isn’t going to be fixed by celebrities making a fashion statement or congratulating themselves for supporting women because it happens to be trendy. Nor is it going to be fixed by an eloquent made-for-TV speech.
A giant of Hollywood, the late George Burns, once famously said, “Sincerity - if you can fake that you’ve got it made.” If there was ever a marquee for last night’s show, unfortunately that is it.
