The snowballing apathy toward the entertainment industry’s biggest nights of the year should be a wakeup call to celebrities that The End is Near – the end of Hollywood, at least in America – but it won’t be.
Sane Americans have had enough of this relentless politicization of the culture and trashing of their values. The audiences of all showbiz awards events (and there are far too many) have been trending downward, largely because the shows are dominated now by foul-mouthed children (of all ages), who think they’re being morally courageous by slamming President Trump, crying about climate extinction, or “shouting their abortions” in acceptance speeches. The Golden Globes ratings fell too, hitting an eight-year low. This year’s music industry freak show was the lowest-rated in Grammy history.
The New York Times couldn’t figure out why it put forth different theories – too many commercials, a crowded TV season, the lack of a host – and ignored the most obvious explanation: American viewers, sick of forgettable left-coast elites lecturing them about what climate-denying, meat-eating, white nationalist rubes they are, have turned their backs on the entertainment industry in massive numbers.įor the same reason, the Oscars ratings-fail mirrored last month’s epic crash-and-burn at the Grammys. This year, the ceremony’s ratings plunged to an all-time record low, down twenty percent from last year’s already-low viewership.
Many decades ago, the Oscars was a noteworthy pop culture event because the show featured captivating, adult screen idols Americans loved who knew how to exude glamour and keep their politics to themselves. It has imploded under the weight of its own virtue-signaling, America-loathing self-righteousness. If you are like most Americans, you didn’t even know it happened and you don’t care, because Hollywood has renounced its central position in American culture. One week ago, the Dolby Theater in Hollywood hosted the 92 nd annual Academy Awards show. Mark Tapson is the Shillman Fellow on Popular Culture for the David Horowitz Freedom Center.