Spike, Ellen Page and Liberal Celebrity Privilege
Sunday’s Oscars ceremony fueled endless think pieces about the merits behind Best Picture winner “Green Book.”
We saw far fewer features denigrating Spike Lee’s boorish behavior after winning only one Oscar that night.
One article, to be precise.
Lee stormed off when his film, “BlacKkKlansman” failed to win Best Picture against seven other films. He later fumed “the ref made a bad call,” conduct unbecoming an Oscar nominee.
We’ve watched stars lose graciously for decades. They channel their acting skills to look happy for the actual winner. It’s called grace, and it’s one element of the diminished Oscars ceremony that deserves to live long and prosper.
Lee did the exact opposite. He mimicked a spoiled toddler who can’t have one more piece of taffy. And the media gave him a pass.
Why? Liberal Celebrity Privilege.
Lee also escaped scrutiny for his rambling, incoherent speech attacking President Donald Trump.
Even more? He used up all of his allotted stage time while his collaborators stood behind him. They couldn’t utter a syllable on the biggest night of their careers.
Sure, Lee’s a respected director winning his first Oscar. Everyone wanted to hear him speak. Couldn’t he have saved a few seconds for his peers?
Did any media outlet scold him for that?
RELATED: Your Essential Guide to Entertainment Media Bias
We’re watching the same thing play out at The Hollywood Reporter. The liberal site invited Ellen Page to follow up on her “Late Show” rant against the men who savagely beat “Empire” star Jussie Smollett.
The actor is gay and black, and he claimed two Trump supporters cited both as they assaulted him with fists, bleach and a noose-like rope.
Page ranted to host Stephen Colbert that it was all Vice President Mike Pence’s fault.
“I’m like, really fired up right now. It feels impossible not to feel this way right now with the president and the Vice President Mike Pence, who wishes I couldn’t be married, let’s just be clear,” Page began.
“The vice president of America wishes I didn’t have the love with my wife. He wanted to ban that in Indiana, he believes in conversion therapy, he has hurt LGBTQ people so badly as the governor of Indiana…
“Connect the dots. This is what happens. If you are in a position of power and you hate people and you want to cause suffering to them, you go through the trouble, you spend your career trying to cause suffering, what do you think is going to happen? Kids are going to be abused, and they’re going to kill themselves and people are going to be beaten on the street,” she said while tearing up and visibly angry.
We quickly learned the “attack” was a hoax, although any clear thinker knew that to be the case long before the evidence stacked up against Smollett.
In short, Page was wrong. Very, very wrong.
So how did Page respond? Did she start with, “I’m sorry for attacking my political enemies when they had nothing to do with this incident?”
No.
She doubled down, sans remorse.
She followed Dan Rather’s “fake but accurate” line of thinking, one that any decent outlet would have blown the whistle on. The Hollywood Reporter didn’t.
How could she possibly get away with that? Liberal Celebrity Privilege.
It’s why Ellen Barkin can say the most awful things imaginable on Twitter and still be employed by TNT. Or how Joss Whedon can trash cancer survivors on social media and still have the pick of any super-directing gig.
Liberal Celebrity Privilege.
How many strikes does Alec Baldwin have against him off-camera? The incidents include various forms of hate speech, violence and more.
He’s still welcome on the set of “Saturday Night Live” each week. News reporters still fawn over his Trump impression sans context. He’s a rock-ribbed liberal, and that affords him a barrier against his own antics.
Need other examples? They are legion and unnecessary. Watching the media’s approach to Lee and Page is all the proof you need.