G.H. HARDING
SMACKDOWN AT THE OSCAR’S — Well, they wanted diversity, but I don’t think anyone could have predicted what was about to happen as Sunday’s Oscars unfolded … and, certainly not that it would involve Chris Rock and soon-to-be Best Actor-winner Will Smith. But, besides being great fodder for the late-night shows tonight and all week, it’s something that might just be illegal – Smith broke the rules and might just have to return his Oscar.
The three hosts weren’t so bad after all; I didn’t particularity care for what Amy Schumer was wearing, but she was funny. I also didn’t much care for her hanging on wires as Spiderman; hell, she looked baked potato on a string! She was hilarious in her comment about Aaron Sorkin and his Being The Ricardos. Wanda Sykes was on point too and Regina Hall was surprisingly funny.
I also didn’t care for the coffee-table-like setting in the Dolby Theater. I mean, to have Bradley Cooper, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett-Smith, and Steven Spielberg literally sitting in you face, could not have been easy.
As the awards began and Dune began winning everything, I thought it might be a Dune-sweep. Jessica Chastain winning a Best Actress was a surprise too. I have not seen the movie and certainly will now. Coda’s wins were expected and then came to Smith/Rock moment. And, Billie Eilish was pretty good; best performance of hers I’ve ever seen.
With Chris Rock onstage, you expect funny and his joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith’s hair and how she’d be seen soon in GI Jane 2 was pretty funny. I think on the surface, Smith over reacted, especially since he seemed to laugh along with everyone else.
I also think it was a sad comment on not being able to channel one’s emotions. Anger management? Maybe. But, as the first Oscar show back after the pandemic, it was certainly a sad, sad moment Trevor White, the producer of King Richard was seen to be extremely upset.
In a podcast yesterday with Howard Bragman, a crisis-management PR-specialist, he said that after Sunday’s incident “Smith’s career moving forward will be scrutinized in a way like never before and Smith will probably not like it.”
After a stellar 30+ tightly -controlled career for decades, Smith is now under the microscope.
Bragman also said it was clear to him that there was something else afoot – something happened that we will find out about.
There was so much riding on this show, it was rather disastrous – and has proved to be the second-ever, lowest-rated broadcast.. Seeing Lisa Minnelli in a wheelchair and clearly not in total control was sad too. To me, the thing that really stood out -aside from the slap– was that most of the attendees were not A-list or B-list … C-list for sure.
Robert Evans
Was also nice to see Francis Ford Coppola, Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro acknowledging the tremendous legacy of Coppola’s The Godfather – 50 years on. It was also nice to see Coppola finally and formally acknowledging the participation of Robert Evans in the making of the movie. He wasn’t always so nice in doing that.
One thing was evident – the golden age of Hollywood is definitively over.
… WOR’s Tom Cuddy caught America in Connecticut the other night. Cuddy said it was a phenomenal show …
Roger Friedman (via his Showbiz 411) says a new Madonna single, a re-make of her “Frozen” -originally done in 1988- will drop this week. Whatever happened to her biopic?
Shep Pettibone
Will she re-unite with Jellybean and Shep Pettibone too? … And, I predict the Academy will publicly sanction Will Smith for Sunday’s outburst. He’ll get to keep his Oscar, but there will be that pesky asterisk next to his name … always!
NAMES IN THE NEWS — Jane Blunkell; Judd Bernard; Tom & Lisa Cuddy; Kent Kotel; Ron Onesti; Sean Harkness; Larry Flick; Savannah King; Lush Ice; Steve Leeds; Bruce Haring; Bruce Morrow; Mike Love; Gene Cornish; Randy Klein; Bruce Grakal; Jazzheads Records; Debbie Gibson; and, ZIGGY!
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