During a rally in Colorado on Thursday, President Trump slammed the Academy Awards this year and lamented that a film made in South Korea, “Parasite,” ended up taking home the most-coveted Oscar, Best Picture. The studio behind the film has since fired back at Hollywood’s favorite target.
“How bad were the Academy Awards this year? Did you see it?” Trump asked the revved-up crowd in Colorado Thursday. “The winner is… a movie from South Korea! What the hell was that all about? We got enough problems with South Korea with trade. On top of that, they give them best movie of the year? Was it good? I don’t know. Let’s get ‘Gone With the Wind.’ Can we get ‘Gone With the Wind’ back, please? ‘Sunset Boulevard’? So many great movies…”
“The winner is from South Korea!” the president exclaimed amid applause. “I thought it was best foreign film, right? Best foreign movie. Did this ever happen before?”
“Parasite,” a satirical class warfare film, indeed made history this year by being the first non-English film to secure the award in its over nine decades of handing out trophies. Clips of the moment went viral online.
Trump goes off on the Oscars for giving Best Picture to Parasite because it's a South Korean movie pic.twitter.com/GUGKdExTbw
— Claudia Koerner (@ClaudiaKoerner) February 21, 2020
Amid a flood of blowback against the president for the “racist” and “backwards” lament, the studio behind “Parasite” issued its own response to the president’s “what the hell” comment.
“Understandable, he can’t read,” Neon tweeted from its official account, as reported by The Hill.
Understandable, he can't read.#Parasite #BestPicture #Bong2020 https://t.co/lNqGJkUrDP
— NEON (@neonrated) February 21, 2020
As The Daily Wire highlighted, response to Trump’s comments from left-wing critics came fast and furious on Twitter Thursday. A few examples:
“The most revealing part is that Trump asked for ‘Gone with the Wind’ back. Patriarchy, slavery, celebrating the Old South. Yikes. Trump really does signal to his voters’ worst instincts,” tweeted professor Robert Kelly.
“Trump loves Gone With The Wind but he prefers to watch it backwards to see the slaves learn their place,” tweeted John Fugelsang.
“I’m sorry but this is SENDING me. The racist audience cheered for ‘what happened to Gone With the Wind’ but then was quiet for ‘Sunset Blvd.’ Too gay for us!!!!!!” tweeted TV writer Ira Madison III.
“This is not a comment on Parasite. It’s white identity politics. It’s a signal of group identity & romanticism of an entertainment age before non-whites were socially prominent/influential,” tweeted Sirius XM’s Luke Thomas.
“Gone with the Wind is a romanticized white wash of slavery and the antebellum South and the author Margaret Mitchell had tremendous ‘economic anxiety.’ Of course Trump would prefer it over PARASITE, a brilliant movie commenting on classism and income inequality,” tweeted CNN’s Wajahat Ali.
Trump’s slam on the Academy is part of his long-running public feud with left-wing Hollywood and its “woke” award ceremonies, which frequently feature rants against the president.
Trump isn’t the only one to complain about the politicization of the events. In now-famous opening remarks, Golden Globes “last”-time host Ricky Gervais urged the show’s winners to do us all a favor, cut out the political diatribes and just “come up, accept your little award, thank your agent, and your God and f*** off, OK?”
“[I]f you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech,” he said after lampooning Hollywood hypocrisy. “You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg. So if you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent, and your God and f*** off, OK? It’s already three hours long.”
Related: Ricky Gervais Spends Day After Golden Globes Mocking Outraged Media Critics