Actress Cate Blanchett explained why we should stop televising awards shows, reminiscing about when stars could just enjoy the party without worrying about their every move being recorded.
Speaking on the “Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang” podcast, the 55-year-old actress said that the Academy Awards, among other Hollywood shows, should “go back to the day when it wasn’t televised,” The <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/cate-blanchett-awards-shows-shouldnt-be-televised-anymore-1236168677/">Hollywood Reporter</a> noted.
The actress said with the invention of smartphones, there are just “so few spaces that you can go now, where you are private.”
“That’s what I loved about the late 80s [was] going to all of the dance parties in Sydney for Mardi Gras. People were just there,” Blanchett said. “They were so present, you know, they were just together, collectively, having a great time.”
“It was non-aggressive. No one was being recorded. No one cared what anyone did,” she added.
The podcast hosts and Blanchett then slammed the TikTok trend of having lip-reading influencers post videos on the platform claiming to reveal what stars were saying to each other at these events.
“I mean, I say, I know it’s blasphemy, go back to the day when it wasn’t televised,” the “Oceans Eight” star said. “Bring that back and just have a great party where people can just let go.”
“I mean, the industry is so scattered and at such a point … which I think potentially could be exciting or could really be depressing, but it’s at a pivot point, and so we need to gather together and celebrate what it is that we do, without it having to have any public-facing,” she added.
“I mean, the fashion is great, and all of that stuff,” Blanchett continued. “We’ll find out in the end who won or who didn’t win. But it would be so nice that that happened behind closed doors. [It would be] absolutely a very different evening.”
Blanchett is a two-time Oscar winner, after taking home Best Supporting Actress for her performance in “The Aviator” in 2005 and Best Actress in 2014&#8217;s &#8220;Blue Jasmine,&#8221; the outlet noted.
The first Academy Awards to be televised was in 1953. It was the 25th ceremony. Earlier this month, the academy celebrated its 97th Oscars show hosted by former late-night host Conan O’Brien.
As host of the 2025 Oscars, O’Brien mainly steered away from politics and received praise for his job hosting the awards show where the telecast viewership jumped to its highest ratings in five years, according to The <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/oscars-conan-obrien-host-2026-1236164868/?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=exacttarget&amp;utm_campaign=Today+In+Entertainment+March+17+2025&amp;utm_content=594036_3-17-2025&amp;utm_id=594036&amp;utm_term=9718857">Hollywood Reporter</a>.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/conan-to-return-for-2026-oscars-amid-rave-reviews" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Conan To Return For 2026 Oscars Amid Rave Reviews</a>

Cate Blanchett

Cate Blanchett: Awards Shows Should No Longer Be Televised

Academy Awards

Celebrities

Entertainment

Hollywood

Movies

Oscars

U.S.

Former late-night host Conan O’Brien will return to host the 2026 Oscars amid rave reviews of his job helming this year’s 97th Academy Awards.
O’Brien received praise for his job hosting the 2025 Oscars where the telecast viewership jumped to its highest ratings in five years, according to The <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/oscars-conan-obrien-host-2026-1236164868/?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=exacttarget&amp;utm_campaign=Today+In+Entertainment+March+17+2025&amp;utm_content=594036_3-17-2025&amp;utm_id=594036&amp;utm_term=9718857">Hollywood Reporter</a>.
“We are thrilled to bring back Conan, Raj, Katy, Jeff and Mike for the 98th Oscars,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and outgoing president Janet Yang said in a statement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Monday.
“This year, they produced a hugely entertaining and visually stunning show that celebrated our nominees and the global film community in the most beautiful and impactful way,” it added.
“Conan was the perfect host — skillfully guiding us through the evening with humor, warmth and reverence. It is an honor to be working with them again.”
O’Brien later released his own statement, cracking a joke about Adrien Brody, who set a record this year for the longest Oscars acceptance speech when he won Best Actor for “The Brutalist,” <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/03/17/nx-s1-5330694/conan-obrien-oscars-host#:~:text=Comedian%2C%20longtime%20talk%20show%20host,Arts%20and%20Sciences%20announced%20Monday.">NPR</a> noted.
&#8220;The only reason I&#8217;m hosting the Oscars next year is that I want to hear Adrien Brody finish his speech,” the former talk show host said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Conan O’Brien will return to host the 2026 Oscars, after earning rave reviews and helping to net a five-year high in total Oscars viewership. <a href="https://t.co/5MPQK4XE0H">https://t.co/5MPQK4XE0H</a>
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) <a href="https://twitter.com/VanityFair/status/1901710373604212928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 17, 2025</a></blockquote>
It was initially reported that total viewership of the O&#8217;Brien hosted Academy Awards was down 7%, with approximately 18.1 million people tuning in to watch the 97th Academy Awards on ABC.
However, those numbers were later revised to show that a total of 19.7 million viewers watched the show, making it the most-watched primetime entertainment program of the 2024-2025 season, that wasn’t sports or news, the Academy noted. The Oscars also had the highest rating in the key demographic of adults, ages 18-49, scoring a 4.54 rating, per the Academy.
To put those numbers into context, in 2022, the Academy Awards had 16.6 million viewers, 18.8 million in 2023, and 19.5 million in 2024.
As host of the 2025 Oscars, O’Brien mainly steered away from politics and cracked jokes about things like “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/movies">Emilia Pérez</a>” star Karla Sofía Gascón, who became the first <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/transgender">trans-identifying</a> man in history to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.
Pretending to be Gascon’s publicist, O’Brien held his hand up to his head like he was on the phone and screamed, “You tweeted what?!” Gascon recently made headlines due to unearthed tweets that went viral, which included critical statements on Muslims and George Floyd.
The 98th Oscars will take place on Sunday, March 15, 2026. It will be held at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live once again on ABC, the Academy noted.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/here-are-all-the-winners-of-the-97th-oscars" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Here Are All The Winners Of The 97th Oscars</a>

Conan O’Brien

Conan To Return For 2026 Oscars Amid Rave Reviews

Conan O'Brien

Ratings

Conan O’Brien revealed a few skits he proposed for his hosting gig earlier this month at the 97th Academy Awards that were rejected due to how they presented the famous gold Oscar statue.
The late-night host avoided most hot-button topics and politics during his time onstage, but he did want to have some fun with the Oscar statue. The 61-year-old celeb said the Academy turned him down, however.
O’Brien said his idea was to portray a 9-foot-tall Oscar statue as his domestic partner, Variety <a href="https://variety.com/2025/film/news/conan-obrien-scrapped-oscars-opening-movie-parody-1236336452/">reported</a>. “We’re fighting about things couples fight about,” he said of the concept during a recent episode of the “Conan Needs a Friend” podcast he did with head Oscars writer Mike Sweeney. 
“At one point, I thought wouldn’t it be great if it’s just on the couch? Let’s lay it on a really big couch and I’ll be vacuuming and say, ‘Could you at least lift your feet? Or could you at least get up and help? Load the dishwasher?’ We wanted to do it and they just said, ‘No, no no, that can’t happen.’”
“One of the people from the Academy came forward and said, ‘Oscar can never be horizontal.’ And that blew my mind. Like, wow, this is like the thigh bone of St. Peter. This is a religious icon,” the comedian added.
O’Brien said when he pitched the idea of the Oscar statue wearing an apron and serving him dinner, he was told, “No clothing on Oscar. Oscar is always naked.” 
Another proposed concept that never got off the ground included O’Brien inserting himself into some of the Best Picture-nominated features, starting with “Wicked.”
“It was the idea that, ‘Oh, Conan’s now going to goof on all the movies,’” O’Brien said. “It starts with me and I’m in ‘Wicked’ and I’m all green, finishing ‘Defying Gravity’ or one of those songs. And I finish it and then you cut to the next thing, which is ‘Gladiator II’ and ‘clang, clang, clang’ with swords and you see that I’m a gladiator but then you notice that I’m still green. And then you go on to ‘Conclave’ and you see people voting with their ballots and one of the hands is still green.”
“The whole thing was that the dye wouldn’t come off and we had to shoot it in one day,” he said. 
Overall, O’Brien was praised for his hosting performance, with the major complaint being that the whole thing was played too safe, and the ceremony ended up long and boring.

Conan O’Brien Reflects On Rejected Oscars Bit: ‘This Is A Religious Icon’

Conan O'Brien Reflects On Rejected Oscars Bit: 'This Is A Religious Icon'

Trans-identifying actor Karla Sofía Gascón, the first man nominated for the Best Actress award, claims he dealt with dark thoughts amid his Oscars controversy.
The Spanish actor said the days leading up to the 97th Academy Awards earlier this month were the “most exposed” period of his life and &#8220;things escalated&#8221; to an extreme point for him.
After controversially getting the first nomination as a male for Best Actress, Gascón was getting a lot of promotional buzz from progressive voices. However, when his past social media posts <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trans-identifying-best-actress-nominee-will-attend-oscars-despite-tweet-controversy">criticizing</a> George Floyd and Islam resurfaced, the actor was caught up in an avalanche of backlash, largely from the Left.
“Absurd and even delirious accusations were thrown at me, which deeply hurt my spirit. Things escalated to a point, and so quickly, that I couldn’t even breathe,” the actor said, per <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/mar/10/karla-sofia-gascon-emilia-perez-speaks-out-oscars-season">The Guardian</a>. “Amid this unexpected, devastating storm, there have been moments when the pain has been so overwhelming that I contemplated the unthinkable,” Gascón continued.
“I harbored darker thoughts than those I considered in some of my previous, no less intimate and personal struggles. And I asked myself: if I, with all my strength and preparedness to deal with rage and rejection, am on the edge, what would have become of someone with fewer emotional resources to resist this onslaught? Somehow, I made it. Others would not have survived this brutal winter I am about to wrap up.”
The musical drama “Emilia Pérez” received 13 nominations at the Oscars but wound up taking home just two golden statues: Best Supporting Actress for Zoe Saldaña and Best Song for El Mal.
After the ceremony, Gascón told The Hollywood Reporter that he “loved the ceremony&#8221; and &#8220;found it very enjoyable” but said he would have preferred different circumstances. “I would have liked to experience it more normally, from the happiness of being nominated, of celebrating, as I am now, full of love, a person who puts her soul and her being into her work and who gives herself to others,” he said. 
Among the past social media posts that landed Gascón in hot water in Hollywood were posts highlighting George Floyd&#8217;s drug abuse and criticizing Islam.
“Let me get this straight, a guy tries to pass off a counterfeit bill after consuming methamphetamine, an idiot policeman arrives and goes too far in arresting him, killing him, ruining the lives of his family and his colleagues, and turning the guy with the bill into a martyr hero,&#8221; he tweeted in June 2020. He went on to describe Floyd as “a drug addict swindler.&#8221;
In a November 2020 tweet, Gascón wrote about Muslims in Europe: “Sorry, is it just my impression or are there more and more Muslims in Spain? Every time I go to pick up my daughter from school there are more women with their hair covered and their skirts down to their heels. Maybe next year instead of English we’ll have to teach Arabic. Until we ban religions that go against European values and violate human rights, such as Islam, under the protection of freedom of worship, we will not end part of the huge problem we face.”
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a free hotline for individuals in crisis or distress or for those looking to help someone else. It is available 24/7 at 1-800-273-8255.

Karla Sofia Gascon

Trans-Identifying ‘Emilia Perez’ Actor Says He ‘Contemplated The Unthinkable’ During Tweet Scandal

Trans-Identifying 'Emilia Perez' Actor Says He 'Contemplated The Unthinkable' During Tweet Scandal

World

Actor Kieran Culkin is not a conservative by any stretch. Like most of Hollywood, he’s got unapologetically liberal views and has been vocal about his disdain for President Trump. But despite holding these beliefs, he’s also made headlines recently for expressing some refreshing takes on fatherhood which deserve to be celebrated.
In an industry rife with celebrities <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/thank-god-we-dont-have-children-seth-rogen-brags-about-decision-to-stay-kid-free">bragging about being child-free</a> and actresses <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-former-americas-next-top-model-contestant-rebukes-michelle-williams-babies-do-not-keep-us-from-our-dreams">crediting abortion</a> for their successful careers, Culkin is an anomaly. The 42-year-old star began his career as a child actor with roles in major productions such as “Home Alone” and “Father of the Bride.” After a brief hiatus and some theater appearances, he hit his stride as an adult actor and won an Emmy for his role as the snarky bad boy Roman Roy in “Succession.” 
Now Culkin can add Oscar to his list of awards, and that’s the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kieran-culkin-uses-oscars-speech-to-ask-wife-for-fourth-child">speech</a> that has everyone buzzing. The actor, who won Best Supporting Actor for “A Real Pain” at the 97th Academy Awards, used his time at the podium to sweetly petition his wife, Jazz, to have a fourth child. Culkin may be a liberal, but all the conservatives were left swooning.
“This is — please don’t play the music because I want to tell a really quick story about Jazz,” the actor said at the end of his speech, before going on to reference how after winning an Emmy, he had mentioned wanting to have a third baby.
“About a year ago, I was on a stage like this and I very stupidly, publicly said that I want a third kid from her because she said if I won the award, I would, she would give me the kid. It turns out she said that because she didn’t think I was gonna win, but then people came up to her and were like, you know, really annoying her … I think it got to her, but anyway.”
<div id="attachment_887723" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-887723" class="size-large wp-image-887723" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2202412394-384x576.jpg" alt="THE OSCARS® &quot;The Oscars&quot; will be held on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will air live on ABC, Hulu and broadcast outlets in more than 200 territories worldwide. (Disney/Stewart Cook)KIERAN CULKIN (Photo by Stewart Cook/Disney via Getty Images)" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2202412394-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2202412394-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2202412394.jpg 683w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" />Stewart Cook/Disney via Getty Images</div>
“After the show, we’re walking through a parking lot, she’s holding the Emmy, we’re trying to find a car. Emily, you were there, so you’re a witness, and she goes, ‘Oh God, I did say that. I guess I owe you a third kid,’ and I turned to her and I said, ‘Really, I want four.’ And she turned to me, I swear to God this happened, it was just over a year ago, she said, ‘I will give you four when you win an Oscar.’ I held my hand out, she shook it, and I have not brought it up once until just now,” Culkin continued as the audience laughed.
“You remember that, honey? You do? Then, I just have this to say to you, Jazz, love of my life, ye of little faith. No pressure. I love you. I’m really sorry I did this again. And let’s get crackin’ on those kids. What do you say? I love you!” he concluded.
As mentioned, this wasn’t the only time Culkin had requested a baby after winning a major award. He did the same thing after winning an Emmy in 2024. And it’s also not the first time he’s gushed about fatherhood.
The actor <a href="https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a43399530/kieran-culkin-succession-interview-2023/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Esquire in 2023 that after his run in “Succession” ended, he didn’t have anything else lined up, and said he did it intentionally. 
“I would like there to be nothing for a little while..,” Culkin said at the time. “I feel like what I’m supposed to do is be a stay-at-home dad. That’s where I feel like I’m the most me. And anything that takes me away from that is wrong.”
<div id="attachment_887731" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-887731" class="size-large wp-image-887731" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2202523665-864x576.jpg" alt="US actor Kieran Culkin, Oscar winner for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for &quot;A Real Pain&quot; poses with his wife Jazz Charton during the 97th Annual Academy Awards Governors Ball at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on March 2, 2025. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2202523665-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2202523665-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2202523665-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2202523665.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images</div>
The actor even said he almost quit “A Real Pain” when the scheduling dates were such that he’d be away from his family, including Jazz and their two young children, for a whole month. 
“I was like, ‘I can’t be away from the family for that long,’ and I had a flip-out,” he told The New York Times in December. “I was in Warsaw and I asked for one less day of press so I could go home for a day. I was home for 32 hours — and I was sick the whole time, so the trip was pointless — but I just needed to be home and see the kids. The work is so I can be home, not so I can be at work,” he added.
During the same interview, the actor said becoming a father changed everything for him.
“That’s why with this movie, I was like, ‘Why did I say yes to this? There’s no money here, I don’t see how this is going to benefit me or my family in any way.’ I don’t have the same mentality of when I was 26 and single, being like, ‘I’m going to Shreveport to do a movie for a few weeks, who cares?’ Now I have to go, ‘Where does it shoot and for how long? Can I bring the family? When, because are my kids going to be in school?’ All those things matter before I even start the conversation of will I do it or not.”
He added, “[T]he real stuff is me being home with my kids, when I’m reading them books and singing them songs until they go to sleep. That’s the whole point of life. The rest of it I’m doing so I can get back to that.”
Culkin, whose brother is well-known “Home Alone” star Macauley Culkin, is one of six kids, so big families are nothing new to him. But the actor didn’t get along with his father. Christopher Cornelius &#8220;Kit&#8221; Culkin and Patricia Brentrup never formally married but stayed together from 1974 until they broke up in 1995. Culkin and his dad are currently estranged.
The “Succession” star said his dad was abusive during childhood, per <a href="https://people.com/all-about-macaulay-culkin-parents-8408576">People</a>. Culkin also said his father, an aspiring actor himself, was jealous of his success.
&#8220;[He said] &#8216;Do good or I&#8217;ll hit you.&#8217; He was a bad man. He was abusive, physically and mentally — I can show you all my scars if I wanted to,&#8221; Culkin said during an appearance on the podcast WTF With Marc Maron in 2018.
The family didn’t have a lot of money. They shared a railroad style apartment in Manhattan&#8217;s Upper East Side as his father worked as a cab driver and at a Catholic Church and his mom earned money as a phone operator. The outlet noted that five kids shared two bunk beds in one room until Macauley started earning bigger paychecks with his successful film career.
<div id="attachment_887733" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-887733" class="size-large wp-image-887733" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-104181879-384x576.jpg" alt="UNITED KINGDOM - CIRCA 1991: Macaulay Culkin, Kieran Culkin (Photo by Dave Benett/Getty Images)" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-104181879-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-104181879-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-104181879.jpg 683w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" />Dave Benett/Getty Images</div>
&#8220;It was just a hallway, and there were no separating doors, except for the bathroom, which didn&#8217;t have a lock,&#8221; the actor told Vanity Fair. &#8220;They raised seven kids in that apartment — for years! They just kept bringing babies home to this little space.&#8221;
Culkin has a better relationship with his mom, who he thanked during his 2024 Emmys acceptance speech. &#8220;My wonderful mom,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Thank you so much for doing everything you did for us. You&#8217;re an amazing woman.&#8221;
A rocky childhood hasn’t deterred the star from trying to create a stable family for himself. He and Jazz eloped in 2013, then welcomed daughter Kinsey Sioux in 2019, and son Wilder Wolf in 2021.
In December, he <a href="https://variety.com/2024/film/news/kieran-culkin-colman-domingo-method-acting-sing-sing-1236241031/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Variety that besides being a father, “nothing else matters.”
“When I look at my life before I had kids, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, this was some guy who like, had hobbies and liked things. This isn’t a real person,&#8217;” he said. “… I’m a dad now, and that’s my only actual role in life is that, that’s real life, and all this is lovely, but I’m just trying to get home.”

Kieran Culkin

Kieran Culkin Is All In For Fatherhood: ‘That’s The Whole Point Of Life’

Kieran Culkin Is All In For Fatherhood: 'That's The Whole Point Of Life'

fatherhood

Parenting

Oscars viewership was down 7% this year, with approximately 18.1 million people tuning in to watch the 97th Academy Awards on ABC.
The total number is calculated by adding the Nielsen measurement of viewers on ABC to live streaming viewers watching the ceremony on Hulu. This is the first time numbers have decreased since 2021, when just 10.4 million viewers tuned in following the COVID pandemic, per <a href="https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/oscars-ratings-2025-viewers-1236326364/">Variety</a>.
Viewership has steadily been increasing since then until this year’s drop. The Academy Awards had 16.6 million viewers in 2022, 18.8 million in 2023, and 19.5 million in 2024, the outlet noted.
Despite fewer viewers, the broadcast was the most-watched primetime entertainment program this year that wasn’t sports or news. The Oscars also had the highest rating in the 18-49 demographic, increasing 3% compared to last year.
The outlet also noted that there were technical difficulties for people watching the awards on Hulu, which disrupted the broadcast just before Best Picture was announced at the end of the night.
First-time host Conan O’Brien mostly steered clear of politics and other hot-button issues throughout the night. “I think as host, I cannot ignore the moment we’re in right now, but also it’s threading a needle,” he said ahead of the hosting gig. 
“I want to do it with humor and also make sure the night doesn’t drift into only about that,” O’Brien added.
The comedian took a jab at Karla Sofia Gascón, a trans-identifying actor who was up for Best Actress, over old social media posts and joked about the Drake and Kendrick Lamar feud. He also added a joke about the Catholic Church while referencing the film &#8220;Conclave.&#8221;
“Anora,” a drama about a prostitute who weds a Russian oligarch, was the big winner on Sunday night, bringing home five golden statues. One of the most controversial moments of the evening came when Best Actress winner Mikey Madison thanked the “sex worker community” for her win.
Best Actor winner Adrien Brody refused to leave the stage when the music started playing and proceeded to give the longest acceptance speech in the history of the Academy Awards.
Another controversial moment came after “No Other Land” won Best Documentary Feature Film. The anti-Israel project was directed by Palestinian activist Basel Adra and left-wing Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham.
“We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law and Basel is under military laws that destroy his life and he cannot control, there is a different path,” Abraham <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/best-documentary-winner-gives-anti-israel-speech-slams-u-s-foreign-policy">said</a> during his speech. “There is a political solution without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both of our people. And I have to say, as I’m here, the foreign policy in [the United States] is helping to block this path.”

Oscars Viewership Dropped This Year For First Time Since COVID

Nielsen Ratings

Television

A screenwriter for the biopic “Reagan” starring Dennis Quaid said the film was ineligible to win Best Picture, the most prestigious prize at the Academy Awards, because it failed to meet the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ DEI requirements.
&#8220;I think the situation speaks for itself. There’s not really anger and indignation among those of us who made this film, we didn’t seriously expect to be nominated for anything by Hollywood in this cultural climate— it’s just sadness, really, what has become of the magnificent Dream Factory that once was Hollywood,&#8221; writer Howard Klausner <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/reagan-screenwriter-claims-oscars-dei-requirements-excluded-film-best-picture-consideration">told</a> Fox News Digital via email.
“Once upon a time it spoke to the heart[s] and dreams of pretty much everybody, and the leaders and luminaries of the 20th century industry intuitively seemed to ‘get’ the middle of the country as well as the cultural elite,&#8221; he continued.
&#8220;We were among 116 films that were eliminated for consideration this year,&#8221; Klausner said. &#8220;Obviously, there needs to be a conversation about this policy.&#8221;
The Academy stipulates that any Best Picture nominee must meet one out of four DEI focused concepts, which include having a main character come from an underrepresented group or have at least 30% of all actors in minor roles come from at least two underrepresented groups.
Another option is to have the main storyline centered on an underrepresented group. Alternatively, the film must utilize at least two creative leadership positions, such as casting director, cinematographer, costume designer, makeup artist, or others, come from underrepresented groups such as women, LGBTQ, or racial and ethnic groups.
A Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-daily-wire-poll-most-americans-oppose-oscars-diversity-requirements">poll</a> conducted in 2021 after the DEI requirements for Best Picture at the Oscars were announced found that most Americans opposed them.
“Reagan” most likely would have been snubbed from the Oscars even if it had met the requirements as it painted the former Republican president in a favorable light and was mostly shunned by mainstream critics. The film currently has an 18% <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/reagan_2024">critic’s score</a> on Rotten Tomatoes and a 98% audience rating.
The year’s most successful documentary by a landslide, the Daily Wire+ production “Am I Racist?,” was also snubbed by The Academy even though it did meet all the requirements for the category. It didn’t even make the list of top 15 documentaries despite having massive cultural influence and making over $12 million at the box office.
The film “Anora,” the big winner at Sunday night’s Oscars ceremony, won Best Picture in addition to four others, including Best Actress for the film’s star Mikey Madison. The movie tells the story of a prostitute who marries the son of a Russian oligarch.

Oscar

‘Reagan’ Screenwriter Says Film Wasn’t Eligible For Best Picture Oscar Due To DEI Requirements

'Reagan' Screenwriter Says Film Wasn't Eligible For Best Picture Oscar Due To DEI Requirements

Dennis Quaid

Ronald Reagan

This year’s Academy Awards Ceremony might be called the “Screw You, America! Oscars.” Films no one saw about issues no one cares about were celebrated at the level of popular works of cinematic genius like 1942’s Casablanca and 1972’s The Godfather. Commentators noted the lack of political messages in the acceptance speeches, but it was all one big political message: “We enlightened creatures of Hollywood are not here to entertain you. We’re here to shove our own high virtue in the face of your low values like marriage, prosperity and love of country.”
Among the nominees? A musical about transgenderism, the delusion that has become the left’s latest sexual fetish. An epic about the carbuncles of brutalism, a film that made it impossible not to stay home and watch Turner Classics. And the winner, Anora, that could not bear to show a woman’s desire to marry a man who would cherish and protect her without first putting us through forty minutes of degrading pornography. (But that was the point! I hear you say — like an adolescent who writes a boring story because Don’t you see? Life is boring!)
Even the one nominated film that scored with the public, the glitzy, mediocre Wicked, was an irritating cultural lecture. “Oh, you thought the classic film Wizard of Oz was about a girl coming of age, choosing between her inner witches to become the sort of woman who inspires men with intelligence, courage and heart? How sexist! No! It’s about racial bigotry! Because everything’s about racial bigotry.”
Hollywood isn’t even a corpse of a once-great industry. It’s a ragdoll of a corpse.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Andrew Klavan Show</a></h3>
Don’t get me wrong. This has nothing to do with lack of talent. Every single person who was nominated or won has been gifted by God beyond anyone’s deserving. This is about a community trapped within the mental prison of a small-minded, arrogant, censorious and self-celebratory culture that has cut its artists off from any true perception of the human condition — which is, after all, the central subject of art.
It’s not strictly about politics either. A city that burns to the ground because of Democrat mismanagement but continues to elect Democrats is certainly a city of political idiots. But its politics is merely a side effect of a deeper cultural cancer: a philosophical zombie-ism that has transformed an entire artistic community into brain-dead materialists devouring the wisdom of the ages. “If we not gooder than Jesus, how come we so rich and pretty?” Hollywood is a city of beautiful buffoons.
Art doesn’t have to be like this. In 1987, two fine works satirized the culture of the day, the film Wall Street by leftist director Oliver Stone, and the novel Bonfire of the Vanities, by right-leaning author Tom Wolfe. The conservative president Ronald Reagan had rescued the country from weakness and stagnation and ignited a quarter century of prosperity and peace. Part of that prosperity was a stock market boom that encouraged a trader culture summed up by the line in Wall Street, “Greed is good.”
Why did two artists with two different political outlooks both excoriate a culture that healed our economy and gave us the strength to win a cold war against the socialist slave state of the USSR?
Because life is complex. Capitalism is the greatest economic engine ever invented. Cures poverty, inspires creativity, and creates wealth. It also ruins everything. It strips us of our nobility and turns us into consumers and scrooges. “Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers,” as the poet William Wordsworth said. Socialism, meanwhile, which kills societies like a plague, nonetheless lures us through an elevated yearning toward justice.
These are deep paradoxes of life in our time. They call for complex visions from free-thinking artists like Stone and Wolfe.
But our ideas now? Men can become women? Free sex is liberating? Evil can be cured with tolerance? These are the childish notions of moral troglodytes. They turn artists into dopes.
The arts will return in one form or another, because they are the spirit working through man, and that spirit never dies. Let this insipid Oscar ceremony be the last gasp of a bad idea, and the epitaph of an artistic community that can say in the immortal words of Universal Pictures’ Frankenstein: “We belong dead.”
* * *
Andrew Klavan is the host of “The Andrew Klavan Show” at The Daily Wire. His new book, &#8220;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-Cain-Finding-Literature-Darkness/dp/0310368340/ref=pd_lpo_d_sccl_1/133-8344803-2786917?pd_rd_w=ZRRbY&amp;content-id=amzn1.sym.4c8c52db-06f8-4e42-8e56-912796f2ea6c&amp;pf_rd_p=4c8c52db-06f8-4e42-8e56-912796f2ea6c&amp;pf_rd_r=WHBVMMEZTTZT8AST35AS&amp;pd_rd_wg=ZPru0&amp;pd_rd_r=3d69b764-739b-4ee2-9136-dedd1f10d178&amp;pd_rd_i=0310368340&amp;psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Kingdom of Cain: Finding God in the Literature of Darkness</a>,” will be published in May. Follow him on X: @andrewklavan
The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

97th Annual Oscars – Show

The ‘Screw You, America!’ Oscars

The 'Screw You, America!' Oscars

Andrew Klavan

Opinion

Actor Adrien Brody refused to leave the stage after giving his Best Actor acceptance speech at Sunday night’s 97th Academy Awards ceremony.
The star of “The Brutalist” heard the prompt music indicating his time was up, but he stopped and instructed the people behind the scenes to turn it off. 
“I’m wrapping up. Please. Please. Please. I&#8217;m wrapping up. I will wrap up. Please turn the music off. I’ve done this before. Thank you. It’s not my first rodeo. I will be brief,” Brody said from the stage. 
“Thank you God, thank you for this blessed life,” the two-time Oscar winner said at the beginning of his lengthy speech. “If I may just humbly begin by giving thanks for the tremendous outpouring of love that I felt from this world and every individual that has treated me with respect and appreciation.&#8221;
“I feel so fortunate,” Brody continued. “Acting is a very fragile profession. It looks very glamorous and, in certain moments, it is, but the one thing that I’ve gained having the privilege to come back here is to have some perspective. No matter where you are in your career, no matter what you’ve accomplished, it can all go away.”
“I’m here once again to represent the lingering traumas and the repercussions of war and systematic oppression, and of anti-Semitism and racism and of othering,” he continued. “I pray for a healthier and a happier and a more inclusive world, and I believe if the past can teach us anything, it’s a reminder to not let hate go unchecked.”
The actor wrapped up quickly when the music started playing again.
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Brody previously won Best Actor for “The Pianist” in 2003 at the age of 29. He was the youngest person ever to win in that category. 
Many X users weighed in on the length of the speech, calling it “self-indulgent” and joking that it was longer than “The Brutalist,” which clocks in at just over three and a half hours.
“Adrien Brody managed to say so much and also nothing at all,” one person <a href="https://x.com/thetolerantweft/status/1896402285024186489">complained</a>.
“[S]orry adrien brody but you should have enough perspective to know that you need to wrap it up — this is so self-indulgent,” another reaction <a href="https://x.com/amil/status/1896402251599770057">said</a>. 
A third person <a href="https://x.com/sammorril/status/1896401455130792188">joked</a>, “Adrien Brody’s speech is gonna have an intermission.”
By the end of the evening, “The Brutalist” won three Oscars in total, taking home the prizes for Best Original Score and Best Cinematography in addition to Brody scoring Best Actor.

Adrien Brody

Adrien Brody Refused To Leave The Stage During Oscars Speech: ‘Turn The Music Off’

Adrien Brody Refused To Leave The Stage During Oscars Speech: 'Turn The Music Off'

Zoe Saldaña, who just took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress after sweeping awards season, has apologized to Mexicans who were offended by the film, “Emilia Pérez.”
The musical drama about a cartel leader who fakes his own death to undergo “gender-affirming surgery” and start a new life had the most Academy Award nominations this year, with 13 total, but wound up only winning two. The film was a frontrunner early on, but was plagued by controversy, including some from Mexicans who thought they were unfairly stereotyped in the movie.
“First of all, I’m very, very sorry that many Mexicans felt offended. That was never our intention. We spoke from a place of love,” Saldaña told the press in the Oscars interview room on Sunday night, per <a href="https://variety.com/2025/film/news/zoe-saldana-apologizes-mexicans-emilia-perez-1236325779/">Variety</a>. “I don’t share your opinion. For me, the heart of this movie was not Mexico. We were making a film about friendship. We were making a film about four women.”
“These women could have been Russian, could have been Dominican, could have been black from Detroit, could have been from Israel, could have been from Gaza,” she added. “And these women are still very universal women that are struggling every day, but trying to survive systemic oppression and trying to find the most authentic voices. So I will stand by that, but I’m also always open to sit down with all of my Mexican brothers and sisters, with love and respect, [to have] a great conversation on how ‘Emilia Pérez’ could have been done better. I welcome it.”
Saldaña spoke about coming from a family of immigrants during her acceptance speech earlier in the night. “My grandmother came to this country in 1961 — I am a proud child of immigrant parents. With dreams and dignity and hard-working hands, and I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award, and I know I will not be the last. I hope. The fact that I’m getting an award for a role where I got to sing and speak in Spanish — my grandmother, if she were here, she would be so delighted, this is for my grandmother.”
The film was criticized for having a French director and being filmed exclusively in France. The director also admitted to not doing much research before making the film. “I didn’t study [Mexico] much,” Jacques Audiard said during an interview that went viral on X. “What I needed to know I already knew a little bit.”
Mexican viewers said the portrayal of their country is inaccurate and damaging, particularly when it comes to the portrayal of drug cartels. Viewers also lamented the fact that none of the cast members were Mexican, reigniting a familiar argument about casting actors in roles that don’t match their nationality.
“Emilia Pérez is a case study in how to combine every cliché, ignorance, and lack of respect toward one of the most serious humanitarian crises of our time. Poorly acted, with a weak script, and a disastrously executed musical,” one person wrote.

Zoe Saldana

Oscar Winner Zoe Saldaña Apologizes That ‘Many Mexicans Felt Offended’ By ‘Emilia Pérez’

Oscar Winner Zoe Saldaña Apologizes That 'Many Mexicans Felt Offended' By 'Emilia Pérez'

Mexico

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hosted the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday at the Dolby Theater at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles.
Hosted by Conan O’Brien, the former late-night host/comedian <a href="https://x.com/ABC/status/1896354987325669628">cracked a joke</a> during his opening monologue about “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/movies">Emilia Pérez</a>” star Karla Sofía Gascón, who became the first <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/transgender">trans-identifying</a> man in history to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.
Pretending to be Gascon’s publicist, O’Brien held his hand up to his head like he was on the phone and screamed, “You tweeted what?!” Gascon recently made headlines due to unearthed tweets that went viral, which included critical statements on Muslims and George Floyd.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oscars?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Oscars</a> host Conan O&#8217;Brien dropped a surprising fact about Best Picture nominee &#8220;Anora,&#8221; saying the film uses the &#8220;f-word 479 times. That&#8217;s three more than the record set by Karla Sofía Gascón&#8217;s publicist.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/nl9CxOviL4">https://t.co/nl9CxOviL4</a> <a href="https://t.co/JZX6l4KrtF">pic.twitter.com/JZX6l4KrtF</a>
— ABC News (@ABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1896354987325669628?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
Gascon’s controversial musical crime drama “Emelia Perez” is a film about a Mexican drug lord who becomes a transgender woman. It was up for a total of 13 nominations and ended up taking home a total of two awards, which included one for Zoe Saldaña, who won Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the film.
Robert Downey Jr., Goldie Hawn, John Lithgow and many other celebrities took the stage to present awards to their peers who gave acceptance speeches ranging from funny to political.
Kieran Culkin, who won Best Actor in a Supporting Role for “A Real Pain,” brought the humor by sharing an intimate conversation he had with his wife who he said told him “we can have 4 children when I win an Oscar… let’s get cracking with these kids!”
Saldaña dove into immigration policies with a speech about how she had become the first American of Dominican origin to accept an award and being a “proud child of immigrant parents.”
Here is a full list of the evening’s winners:
Best Picture
“Anora”
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Mikey Madison, “Anora”
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain”
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Zoe Saldaña, “Emilia Pérez”
Best Director
Sean Baker, “Anora”
Best Cinematography
“The Brutalist”
Best International Feature Film
“I’m Still Here”
Best Adapted Screenplay
“Conclave”
Best Original Screenplay
“Anora”
Best Live Action Short Film
“I’m Not a Robot”
Best Animated Short Film
“In the Shadow of the Cypress”
Best Animated Feature Film
“Flow”
Best Documentary Short
“The Only Girl in the Orchestra”
Best Documentary Feature Film
“No Other Land”
Best Original Song
“El Mal,” from “Emilia Pérez”
Best Original Score
“The Brutalist”
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
“The Substance”
Best Costume Design
“Wicked”
Best Editing
“Anora”
Best Sound
“Dune: Part Two”
Best Production Design
“Wicked”
Best Visual Effects
“Dune: Part Two”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/oscars-nominations-announced-controversial-trans-drama-leads-with-13-nods" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oscars Nominations Announced, Controversial Trans Drama Leads With 13 Nods</a>

Here Are All The Winners Of The 97th Oscars

Israeli filmmaker Yuval Abraham accepted the award for Best Documentary Feature for his movie “No Other Land” at the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles.
During Abraham’s <a href="https://x.com/THR/status/1896384917967085849">anti-Israel acceptance speech,</a> he took a swipe at U.S. foreign policy and blamed the United States for the lack of resolution in the conflict.
“We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together, our voices are stronger. We see each other, the destruction of Gaza and its people, which must end, the Israeli hostages, brutally taken in the crime of October 7, which must be freed,” Abraham said.
“When I look at Basel [Adra, co-director], I see my brother—but we are unequal,” he claimed. “We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law and Basel is under military laws that destroy his life and he cannot control, there is a different path. There is a political solution without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both of our people. And I have to say, as I&#8217;m here, the foreign policy in this country is helping to block this path.&#8221;
“Why? Can’t you see that we are intertwined, that my people can be truly safe if Basil’s people are truly free and safe?” Abraham continued, claiming there is “another way, it’s not too late for life for the living.” 
The comments from Abraham were met with thunderous applause and cheers from the stars in the room.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The team behind <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoOtherLand?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NoOtherLand</a> accepts the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oscar?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Oscar</a> for best documentary and speaks about the Iraeli-Palestinian conflict <a href="https://t.co/3ilRwmdkzf">pic.twitter.com/3ilRwmdkzf</a>
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) <a href="https://twitter.com/THR/status/1896384917967085849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
“No Other Land” won Best Documentary this year despite having less cultural influence and fewer viewers than the hit DailyWire+ documentary, “Am I Racist?”
The past two winners in the category include “20 Days in Mariupol” and “Navalny,” which were both critical of Russia. This year’s winning selection was made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of four activists seeking to paint Israel as the aggressor in the ongoing conflict by highlighting the destruction of a West Bank village.
Producers had to self-distribute the film in the United States after no major studios picked it up. “No Other Land” was the highest grossing documentary of all the nominees yet <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/news/box-office/no-other-land-box-office-oscars-1235099277/">earned</a> only $420,000 at the domestic box office.
Amanda Harding contributed to this piece.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shocker-barely-anyone-went-to-see-anti-israel-oscar-winner-for-best-doc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SHOCKER: Barely Anyone Went To See Anti-Israel Oscar Winner For Best Doc</a>

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