Too Much Politics Led to the Oscars Mistake, Trump Says - New York Times
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From left: Eric Thayer for The New York Times; Patrick T. Fallon for The New York Times
President Trump said a politically charged atmosphere led to the historic best picture mistake at the Oscars, in an interview published Monday on Breitbart News.
“I think they were focused so hard on politics that they didn’t get the act together at the end,” Mr. Trump said. “It was a little sad. It took away from the glamour of the Oscars. It didn’t feel like a very glamorous evening. I’ve been to the Oscars. There was something very special missing, and then to end that way was sad.”
It was Mr. Trump’s first reaction to the now-infamous mistake, in which “La La Land” was announced on Sunday night as winner in the best picture category, when the winner was really “Moonlight.” The correct movie was announced minutes later after a brief but stunning spectacle of confusion and shock.
Mr. Trump’s response was a marked departure from the way he had responded to the Oscars in the past; he usually posted his remarks, often scathing broadsides, on Twitter.
Compared to the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Golden Globes, references to Mr. Trump at the Oscars were less pointed. Jimmy Kimmel, the show’s host, made a number of cracks at Mr. Trump’s expense, but didn’t approach the searing rhetoric that some in Hollywood have employed.
“This broadcast is being watched live by millions of Americans and around the world in more than 225 countries that now hate us,” Mr. Kimmel said in his monologue.
Asghar Farhadi, the Iranian director of “The Salesman,” won his second Oscar for best foreign language film on Sunday, but did not attend to protest the travel ban Mr. Trump’s administration set in motion shortly after entering office.
Instead, Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian-American engineer, read a prepared statement on behalf of Mr. Farhadi, which said, in part: “I’m sorry I’m not with you tonight. My absence is out of respect for the people in my country and those of other six nations whom have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the U.S.”
His statement did not mention Mr. Trump by name.
Mr. Trump has held a long fascination with Hollywood. He briefly considered attending the University of South California’s film school in his youth and appeared in a number of movies and television shows through the decades. In 2007 he won a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star was eventually smashed by vandals during his presidential campaign.
Not one to keep his pop culture opinions to himself, Mr. Trump has been harshly critical of the Oscars for years, calling them “boring,” “average,” “sad” and “an insult to the past.” He even once used an expletive to describe what he thought of Hollywood’s biggest night.
The day after the 2013 Oscars, Mr. Trump, in an interview with Fox News, said, “Overall, I thought that the event was O.K. at best. I thought the set was terrible. You look at the set. I mean, talk about the word tacky. So I wasn’t impressed with the set.”
After the British actor Daniel Day-Lewis won the best actor award that year for his role in “Lincoln,” Mr. Trump said: “First of all, he’s not from this country. He’s had an accent that I could detect. I don’t know if other people could detect it. I don’t think Lincoln had an English accent to the best of my knowledge.”
He even once pitched himself to host in 2014.
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I should host the #Oscars just to shake things up - this is not good!
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
March 3, 2014
This year, there were no tweets, even after Mr. Kimmel baited the president with one of his own during the show.
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Hey @realDonaldTrump u up?
Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel)
Feb. 27, 2017
It is unclear if he actually was or not.
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