Will Woke Insanity Crush Awards Season?

The Golden Globes went from the talk of the town to joining the endangered species list.

The woke mob has the quasi-august group in its cross hairs, and we all know what that means. Could the Globes go the way of the eight-track tape, and will other awards shows follow shortly thereafter?

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is known for throwing lavish parties, giving momentum to Oscar-bait films and delivering questionable results. Think Pia Zadora’s win for the best new star award in 1982.

And, more recently, giving a Best Comedy or Musical Nomination on “Music,” a film so universally reviled one scribe suggested its star retire from the screen altogether.

Now?

The show’s recent ratings were abysmal, and the woke mob is eager to get a Golden scalp before next year’s event can even happen – assuming it does. A large group of PR professionals just vowed to boycott the HFPA unless it drastically addresses its lack of black members, stat.

More recently, several black-themed shows said they tried to get the Globes’ attention – with zero luck. Is it possible that many shows attempt the same with similar results? Or was genuinely bigoted thinking afoot?

The HFPA is vowing to make any changes necessary to stop the mob from canceling it entirely. It won’t be enough, most likely. The woke mob is never satisfied. Even the far-left Hollywood Reporter acknowledges this.

Was the 78th Golden Globe Awards on Feb. 28 the last one that will feature the participation of top Hollywood talent? 

A Golden Globes ceremony without stars is like a Yankees game sans a starting pitcher, Rhe Globes aren’t the only awards institution under furious attack.

• Several high-profile musicians, like Justin Bieber and The Weeknd, are sniping at the Grammys and/or vowing not to submit their songs for awards consideration. That’s a movement that could quickly multiply as woke artists play the victim card when their songs aren’t “appropriately” honored.
• Diversity quotas will soon become the cinematic law of the land for the Oscars, an annual gala whose cultural cache seems to shrink every year (along with its ratings).
• The Tonys lack the mass appeal of their fellow awards galas, and the pandemic literally wiped out the industry in 2020.

Is this the death spiral for awards shows? If so, pin plenty of blame on the woke mob.

After all, much of what plagues these shows – from wan entertainment value to virtue signaling on steroids – connects directly with the woke movement.

The Oscars felt the woke sting first after the “OscarsSoWhite” Hashtag hit social media in 2015 when critics felt the nominees didn’t include enough artists of color.

That hurt the integrity, and gravitas, of the institution. It also painted a bright red target on its cultural back.

The rise of woke justice also damaged the Oscar ceremonies themselves. Potential hosts had to be vetted like politicians, combing through their work to find inflammatory material. That effort forced one of the most bankable movie stars alive, Kevin Hart, to lose the hosting gig in less than a week.

Now, the event is host-less, robbing audiences of a potentially hilarious monologue and someone to move the night along with a well-timed quip. That matters when your show is three-plus hours long.

RELATED: Media: Oscars Too White, Too Apolitical

The woke spirit also transformed other awards shows. Presenters routinely address hard-left political matters on stage. Hosts drop the shtick in order to promote the progressive cause du jour, rendering them the equivalent of a late-night monologue.

You know, the partisan propaganda we can hear five nights a week on any number of liberal talk shows.

Consider the 2019 Golden Globes hosts Andy Samberg and Sandra Oh, a monologue full of virtue signaling but short on actual laughter.

Even the speeches are different in our woke era.

Honorees no longer grab their statuette, thank Mum and Pa and shuffle off. Now stars feel compelled to use their podium time to pimp social justice causes or hard-left measures. Said speeches alienate swaths of potential viewers, but the award show producers don’t seem to care.

Want more proof these woke awards shows lack self awareness?

The recently wrapped Grammys featured a speech by Tamika Mallory, evicted from the Women’s March over charges of anti-Semitism. She’s also a fan of renowned hater Louis Farrakhan.

The artists themselves often have so little respect for the various awards they mock them from the stage.

Sacha Baron Cohen did his virtue signaling best after he won a Golden Globe last month. He thanked the “all white” voting members for the honor. The HFPA isn’t all white, but never mind.

Golden Globes hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler also attacked the very institution that hired them during their opening moments.

Even when an awards show showers statuettes on people of color it isn’t woke enough. Buzzfeed recently excoriated the Grammys after it made Beyonce the most honored woman in its history.

Yet for all the worship of Beyoncé that the Grammys carried out — and, obviously, we are not worthy — it couldn’t overwrite the wildly long history of the Academy failing to recognize her artistry. In the last decade alone, here’s a brief list of things Beyoncé has redefined: the album, the album release, the music video, the music documentary, the corporate partnership, the musical festival performance, the Super Bowl halftime show. Bey has no shortage of Grammy nominations — an incredible total of 79 — but she has just one single win in the major categories (“Single Ladies” took home the Song of the Year trophy in 2010).

Seventy nine nominations? Why won’t the Grammys treat Beyonce like the royalty she is?

Remember how the Grammys gave precious little love to other consequential acts, like The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and The Who?

RELATED: The Left Ruined the Oscars and Super Bowl… What’s Next?

Awards shows face a number of critical forces aligned against them, all tied to social justice thinking. The predominant culture, woke and ready to find fault with any institution, will never be satisfied with the shows as is.

A mob eager to yank statues of President Abraham Lincoln won’t bat an eye if the Oscars suffer a similar fate.

Audiences increasingly avoid these lecture-filled events, while understanding the winners no longer represent the best and brightest talent. Anyone who believes “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” deserves Oscar consideration is thinking about the film’s hard-left politics first and foremost.

Show business as a whole is blinkered to criticism, as are the journalists who cover the arts. Here’s a Canadian think piece on the awards show decline that doesn’t even mention the lectures or hard-left posturing that chases away so many viewers.

The entertainment industry, and the biased reporters who cover it, may not see the end coming. Audiences will, though, and they’ll probably shrug when they’re gone.