Hollywood’s #MeToo Fatal Flaw: GOP Women Don’t Count
Hollywood may use Tinsel Town’s biggest night to spread the #MeToo gospel.
The March 4 Oscars telecast could include speeches designed to sing the movement’s praises. And, in turn, warn scoundrels the era of abusing women is over.
It wouldn’t be the first time an awards show became a call to feminist arms.
Both the Golden Globes and the SAG Awards addressed gender inequality in and outside of Hollywood. The latter featured all-female presenters to send the message that sexual aggression will no longer be tolerated. The celebrity movement has only just begun.
Jennifer Lawrence is helming a #MeToo and #TIMESUP inspired TV series: https://t.co/2Wzywx73At pic.twitter.com/qd7uWYNbWY
— MTV (@MTV) February 26, 2018
The #MeToo term isn’t new.
Tarana Burke created it 12 years ago before our hashtag era. It caught fire last year following allegations producer Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted many actresses over the past three decades.
Hollywood celebrities did the rest. Stars rushed to Twitter to support the cause, decrying sexual assault and mistreatment of women within the industry. They gave impassioned speeches about the need to listen to women and let their stories be told.
At times it felt like a cultural page had turned.
Or had it?
Some of You Have Come a Long Way, Baby
Not all women are offered #MeToo protection. Consider Stacey Dash, Melania Trump, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Ivanka Trump, Nikki Haley and Laura Ingraham.
What do they all have in common? Each has significant Republican ties. And, it appears, GOP women aren’t offered the same kind of protection as their liberal peers.
The most recently example came with Dash, the “Clueless” alum now running for Congress in California. Dash got an earful from comic actor David Alan Grier courtesy of Twitter:
I can’t wait to NOT vote for this heffa! #Nope https://t.co/dybceEbPts
— David Alan Grier (@davidalangrier) February 26, 2018
For the uninitiated, “heffa” according to urbandictionary.com, can mean a clueless, misguided or fat woman. WordReference.com offers this meaning:
“In general it means “bitch” but can apply particularly to someone who is fat.”
The “In Living Color” alum also sent demeaning sexual comments to Ingraham. The Fox News host (note: this reporter previously worked for Ingraham’s LifeZette.com site) told LeBron James to “shut up and dribble” after James shared some inelegant critiques at President Donald Trump.
It’s a play on her 2003 book “Shut Up and Sing: How Elites from Hollywood, Politics, and the UN Are Subverting America
.” The book’s inspiration came from celebrity attacks on then-President George W. Bush. She’s used variations on the “Shut up and …” theme ever since.
Grier’s response?
Bron Bron sending kids to college, building schools is an agent of change and this Muthafucka said “Shut up n dribble?” DRIBBLE THESE NUTS 🥜
— David Alan Grier (@davidalangrier) February 17, 2018
Actor Michael Rapaport of “Beautiful Girls” fame hit Ingraham harder with his sexist video commentary.
“No cluckhead, you shut up and dribble… deez nuts, b—h. You mayonnaise-eating, melba toast no seasoning on your chicken cracker. Your butt is so flat that when you stand up you could see your entire a—le. I’m sorry ladies, I warned you at the top…
You went to college, Laura, and you’re proud of that, and what do you got to show for it? A mouth full of fake teeth, a face full of Botox and some dry-ass hair extensions. And you still never got f—ed right, you little jumpoff.”
No outcry from Hollywood, the National Organization for Women or liberal TBS host Samantha Bee.
For context, Bee demanded TBS apologize to Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign after the network tweeted a joking reference to the former First Lady as a “hyena.”
TBS did as told.
But there’s more.
You Slept Your Way to the Top!
Both Stephen Colbert and James Corden taunted UN Ambassador Nikki Haley for blasting a Grammy skit featuring “Fire and Fury” by liberal author Michael Wolff. The writer had suggested Haley was sleeping with President Trump without an ounce of evidence. She resented his inclusion in the high-profile music event.
Can you blame her?
Not only did Colbert and Corden (or any other Hollywood player) fail to stand up for Haley … they mocked her for doing just that.
Over at Comedy Central, the host of “The Jim Jefferies Show” targeted First Lady Melania Trump as “wooden” and “dirty” last year. The media all but ignored the attack. So did Hollywood feminists. The allegedly woke “Saturday Night Live” also shredded the First Lady, implying a woman who speaks multiple languages is dumb with a series of “Melania Moments” sketches.
“Sons of Anarchy” standout Ron Perlman cruelly attacked three GOP women over a short span: Haley, the First Lady and White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Speaking of CRAP, how bout that press secretary. https://t.co/d0itwfxwfA
— Ron Perlman (@perlmutations) January 29, 2018
Oscar Night Lectures
Sunday’s Academy Awards telecast could include references to #MeToo and #TimesUp, the latter including an important legal framework to help women targeted by harassment.
The industry is in lockstep for the cause. Consider legendary actress/singer/director Barbra Streisand. The superstar recently rose to #MeToo’s defense in no uncertain terms.
.@BarbraStreisand on #MeToo and #TimesUp movements: “Women are tired of being insulted, put down, condescended to, tired of the quid pro quo. And they’re doing something about it” https://t.co/c8mvV9ziQw pic.twitter.com/h5wdqquuW9
— Variety (@Variety) February 27, 2018
So why won’t she raise her voice to defend Republican women being treated in a far less than equal fashion? And she’s not alone in Hollywood. The industry just nominated Anita Hill, a divisive figure over the past two decades, to oversee a commission on industry harassment.
That proved a clear sign that politics would play a role in the movement’s future. The silence in the defense of Ingraham, Sanders, Dash and more tell the rest of the sorry story.
Photo by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Foter.com / CC BY