A lot of Americans are turning their TV sets off when award shows get too political. That’s bad news for Hollywood, but good news for America.
The Hollywood Reporter/National Research Group, surveyed a group of 800 Americans, half of whom voted for Hillary Clinton, while half voted for Donald Trump, to see what they thought about increasingly politicized awards shows. Of the Trump voters surveyed, 66 percent said they turn the TV off when an awards show speech gets too political. Unsurprisingly, very few Clinton voters (19 percent) say they turn off the tube when a speech veers into the political wilderness. When asked if Hollywood represents their core values well, 54 percent of Democrats responded affirmatively versus a mere 20 percent of Republicans.
The obvious reason: Hollywood is liberal. When actresses like Meryl Streep go on about how terrible Trump is, people who didn’t vote for him won’t tune her out because they agree. This isn’t rocket science, yet this Jezebel headline makes it out to be a befuddling mystery: “Trump Voters Hate Political Speeches at Awards Shows For Some Reason.”
Clover Hope writes: “The survey suggests, in short, that Trump voters, much like their leader, want people to shut up about Trump unless they have something nice to say :).”
I’m sure there’s some truth to Hope’s hypothesis, but this is definitely a gross oversimplification that ignores many other aspects at play. That 19 percent of Clinton voters are also turning off their TV sets suggests the disgust isn’t simply a partisan one. It’s obvious many Americans, regardless of who they voted for, just want a freaking break from politics.
Also, let’s not pretend that leftist Hollywood elites using their time accepting awards to lecture us all is a new phenomenon. Remember 2015, when Patricia Arquette whined about not getting paid enough when accepting her Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress? Or the great #OscarsSoWhite controversy of 2016? Or that time Amy Schumer told us all a little too much about her menstrual cycle on the red carpet and everyone praised her for being a feminist hero?
The truth is, Hollywood has been lecturing at us all for quite some time, even at awards shows because they apparently don’t have enough of a microphone when making movies or getting glossy profiles written about them. And lots of Americans are sick of it.
